Daniel McBrearty Music
positive soul music
"Proudly Made By Humans" All of these are part of my musical DNA, embedded into whatever I write or record. Thank you!
I create music which is a blend of the influences that I grew up with, and which formed me as a musician and a person. The blues and jazz created by African Americans, classic sixties and seventies pop, the reggae, funk and soul music I played in and around London for many years, the traditional songs of Ireland and classical music that we listened to at home in Wales where I grew up. Every day I'
New year, time to work ... Dexter was not easy! So much swagger in his playing.
Hey everyone ... so here we are again, a moment to reflect on the last year and make plans for the new one. I'm pretty grateful to still be in the game, doing what I love, sometimes it's tough, two steps forward, one back ... but it still makes me happy and proud to be trying to do something positive with my life energy, and I'm still strong and going forward! Much love and thanks to all my friends, here's a little "Afternoon In Paris" ... !
25/12/2023
A quiet and rather solitary Christmas. But home cooked chicken stew and a bottle of Westvleteren, it could be a lot worse. Wishing you a truly peaceful mid winter feast.
We made a Christmas record - without actually meaning to ... !
When I came back from Ireland and set myself to writing a few songs in a 50s/60s jazz/pop "crooner" style for Eddie C to sing, I was just trying to write simple, unpretentious songs in that classic "Great American Songbook" style (can we say "what would Irving Berlin do?").
I woke up at about 4am one morning, couldn't get back to sleep, and somehow ended up writing words and melody for two songs before heading to work, dog tired, at 7am. This was one of them.
Two months later, a lot of time mixing, arranging and recording later and this came out - everyone has being saying it sounds like a Christmas record, and Eddie kindly made this video to go with it!
Apparently it is going to get its radio debut between 2 and 4pm today on Antwerp's "Golden Oldie" station Radio Minerva today!
From Friday you will be able t hear it on Spotify and it should hit the other streaming platforms (all of them) within a few days of that too!
Is it too early to say "Happy CHristmas" ... from me and Eddie C?
(My deepest thanks to these great people who helped me make this tune, one of four ... Josue Garcia - trumpet, Andrea Di Fiore - bass, Abramo Riti - piano, Jake Naugle - drums, my dear friend Charly De Pessemier - mix engineer - and of course the irrepressible Eddie C himself for bringing his own special magic to the songs!)
Every Friday night, or most anyway, I go to hang out with friends and jam at a little back street cafe in Gent called de Commerce. It's not even a cafe as such, it belongs to a friend who works with film and movies, it probably was a cafe once though. It has a piano and some drums, a sort of a bar where you serve yourself, and, most importantly, a warm friendly atmosphere and tolerant neighbours.
Sam the owner also plays the piano pretty good himself, but a few other local players come down regularly so it's a fun hang. Like all jam sessions there is a bit of pot luck, some weeks are better than others, but the vibe is nice and, as I work full time and really don't have energy to run my own band anymore, I'm really happy to show up and partake. It keeps my sane and keeps my chops together.
I think jam sessions are a really important element of jazz culture, well, musical culture. Playing in a jam session is a curious balance of self restraint and assertiveness, and I think that learning to hold that balance is a musical and life skill which never really ends. It's quite a unique thing and it's one reason that I think that the world would be a kinder and nicer place if all people in powerful positions were required to be competent musicians.
Anyway yesterday was a fun one, even though our regular bass player wasn't around (not tagging everyone on this rambling post) we have a great pianist and also there was a young guy playing decent rhythm guitar. And that's another thing yiu learn - how to make it work with whatever you have going on.
I love everything about this scene. I love seeing beginners step in and take a nervous chorus or two and just get through it. I love people who wander in, surprised, off the street, and the locals who are in the know and who show up regularly. I love the chance to blow off a little steam and just enjoy playing music for its own sake, pure and simple. I love the friends I make. I love the mix of anarchy, surprise, and conviviality. I love the Oxford comma I just used.
Most of all I just love playing music. So much. I really can't imagine how dull life would be without it.
18/08/2023
https://danmcb.com/from-the-source-to-the-sea.html - nice little folky DADGAD piece I wrote many years ago ... hope you like!
danmcb music - From The Source To The Sea From The Source To The Sea ONE-STOP Daniel McBrearty 100% master & 100% publishing sounds like: Release date: TBA On my first visit to Ireland, staying in the Youth Hostel in Ennis, I met a guitarist from the US, and we spent....
06/08/2023
To all my friends, musical or not ...
Marisa G. Franco: The secret to making new friends as an adult Making friends as an adult can feel like a baffling obstacle course. Why was it so much easier to connect as kids? To help you find well-rounded and fulfilling friendships, psychologist Marisa Franco discusses science-backed tips on how to make (and keep) friends, like the optimism-inducing "accepta...
26/06/2023
https://www.tajblues.com/discography/savoy - senor taj killing it again ... love it from the first note ...
Savoy (2023) — Taj Mahal With Savoy , Taj takes a new direction in his musical journey, exploring classics from the American songbook with his good friend and acclaimed record producer John Simon, whose resume includes producing classic albums by The Band, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot & Blood Sweat & T
21/02/2023
I was happy to hear my unreleased song "4am Sunday morning" get played by Andy Roberts at Radio Cardiff yesterday, after I gave people on my mailing list a preview of it!
(If you want to join my mailing list you can subscribe here https://.danmcb.com or just send me a pm with your email.)
Home - Daniel McBrearty Music Daniel McBrearty Music I write and play music for fun and to stay sane. Mostly saxophone, occasionally clarinet, but I do the singer-songwrtiter thing as well. I do it for my own satisfaction and pleasure, but if people (you) like it, well, that’s great. I’ve also messed around with making music...
so here's a vid of my instrumental song "Blues For Anna" ... kind of smooth sounding sax instrumental, but I think it has something. Percussion by Danny Ward, Bass by Chihi Anya - all the other stuff (apart from the bideo, which I paid someone on Fiverr for) is by me.
Hope you enjoy!
here's a little taste of one of the tunes from the new album which will be ouit in Jan. I'd like to give you a free download code to listen, let me know in the comments if you would like that!
Videos (show all)
