Bio
Brian Moran grew up in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, where he began playing the guitar at age 13. Since graduating Berklee College of Music in 1998, Brian has been performing and teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area. Notable work includes performances with guitarists Bruce Forman and Mundell Lowe, and actor/improviser Timothy "Speed" Levitch (Waking Life and The Cruise), among others. He has produced music for the openings of photographers Annie Liebowitz and Ruth Bernhard, painter Robert Bechtle performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, played on television and in theatre, and has composed and conducted for numerous other projects. Bruce Forman calls him a "thorough musician who has spent a great deal of time assimilating the wealth of Jazz history and has found a wonderfully personal way of expressing himself".
In recent years, Brian has taken up nylon guitar playing and Brazilian cavaquinho and mandolin, and has begun playing Classical, Brazilian music, and Flamenco. He has traveled to Brazil and studied in Sao Paulo with Choro Rasgado guitarist Alessandro Penezzi, and Marco Bertaglia, author of O Violao de 7 Cordas. In Feb of 2007 and Feb of 2008, Brian attended the 3rd and 4th annual Festival Nacional do Choro in Sao Paulo state, Brasil where he studied with Mauricio Carrilho, Paulo Aragao, Luciana Rabello, Jayme Vignola, and had the great pleasure of playing in rodas (Choro jam sessions) with Proveta, Alvaro Carrilho, Cristovao Bastos, Pedro Amorim, Rui Alvim, Celsinho Silva, Oscar Bolao, and many other Brasilian musicians.
In March of 2008 Brian gave a workshop to the South Bay Guitar Society on the subject of Brazilian guitar styles.He currently plays with Blowout, Falso Baiano, Jorge Alabe and Grupo Samba Rio and samba-pagode group Nosso Grito and as a leader and sideman in various other jazz, blues, and world music groups.
His discography includes:
Grupo Falso Baiano: Viajando: Choro e Jazz(2008).
Performer. scheduled for Summer 2007 release - www.grupofalsobaiano.com
The Alamo audio tour(2008). Produced, arranged, recorded and performed music for audio tour. www.thealamo.org
Astralingua:Contact(2008).
Contributing performer. www.astralingua.com
Grupo Falso Baiano: Live at The Hillside Club(2006).
Performer. Self released - www.grupofalsobaiano.com
Xavier Viramontes:Printmaker(documentary film), by filmmaker Michael Fraser(2006).
Performer on soundtrack. Details at www.xaviermiramontes.com
Downtown Uproar:Downtown Uproar(2006).
Performer. Self-released - www.henryhungmusic.com
The People's Temple(play), directed by Leigh Fondakowski, premiering at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre(2005)
Performed and liscenced music for use. Details at www.berkeleyrep.org
Blowout: The Supporting Theory, Lifeforce Jazz Records(2004).
Performer, Arranger, Producer. Released by Lifeforce Jazz Records. Details at www.blowoutmusic.com
Brian Carmody Quartet, featuring vocalist Allegra Bandy(2003).
Performer. Released and liscenced to Seismicom.com.
