John Brunton was born in Burnley, North West England, in 1968. He is a jazz and blues fanatic and self-taught musician. John Jr., his brother, is a professional musician from Munich. He plays guitar. Gary, who had previously studied clarinet and piano, discovered the electric bass when he was 15, after being inspired by Jean Jacques Burnel from the Stranglers. He began playing double bass at 16 and started gigging in local pubs and clubs, along with his dad’s buddies. At a workshop with Gary Boyle and Jeff Clyne, he became more familiar with modern jazz. At the age of 18, he left England to study modern languages at Swansea University in Wales. He is introduced to jazz by local musicians like Jonathan Lewis, a saxophonist, and Russ Jones, a pianist. He is drawn to the world of Bill Evans and other musicians like Joe Henderson, George Mraz, and Ron Carter. Martin Taylor, a guitarist, suggests to him that he study music in Paris after a night at Swansea’s jazz club. In October 1988, he decided to move to Paris to attend the CIM jazz school. He was joined by other talented young musicians like Pierre Christophe, Daniel Garcia Bruno, and Bojan Zulfikarpasic. He decided to remain in France during the summer 1989. He performed as a trio at the Petit Journal Montparnasse in 1990 with Chet Baker’s piano player, Michel Grailler. Jean Francois Jenny Clark taught him briefly and Stan Getz met him during rehearsals at the CIM. He was a member of Noel Akchote’s first quartet, which included Julien Lourau, Francois Merville, and then he set out to study with the best jazz double bassists: Henri Texier and Pierre Michelot in a workshop in Groznjan Yugoslavia, followed by private lessons in Henri Texier and Ray Brown. He began classical training at the Paris Conservatory (12th Arr.) in 1991. culminating in a «Fin d’etudes»diploma. He met George Mraz during a brief stay in New York, 1992. They were at the Sweet Basil club trio concert with Tommy Flanagan. He formed a trio in 1993 with Edouard Ferlet, pianist, and drummer Gregor Hilbe. They won third prize for best solo at the Defense national competition. For the recording of Escale, the USG» became the Edouard Ferlet Quintette with Simon Spang Hanssen, Claus Stotter and Stephane Belmondo replacing Francois Theberge and Simon Spang Hanssen. Gregor Hilbe, who moved to England, was replaced by Zazimut Francois Verly for the second album. The new horn section was made up of Laurent Thion, Christophe Monniot, and Mederic Collignon. He toured Europe in the mid-90’s with Guitar Hell» a quartet featuring American guitarists Russ Spiegel, Michael Felberbaum, and Lyonnais Stephane Foucher as drums. In 1997, Ellery Eskellin, Mark Feldman, and Mark Helias performed at the Instants Chavires Club. This inspired him to form his own band and start writing music. Jean Charles Richard, Johan Renard, and Laurent Bataille formed a quartet. With the addition of Eric Lohrer (guitar) and Edouard Ferlet (keyboards), the quartet was transformed into a sextet called ‘Brunt’Off». Frederic Norel et Luc Isenmann soon replaced Johan Renard et Laurent Bataille respectively. In 2002, «Brunt’Off» recorded French Cricket featuring singer Sandrine Deschamps. It was nominated at Cannes’ annual music awards and received well by musicians and the press. It’s clever, funny, well-written, played, recorded, and mixed. This is the whole process. Congratulations on this fine work» Steve Swallow He formed a new band with guitarist Frederic Loiseau and Claudio Pallaro, as well as drummer Andrea Michelutti. He traveled to South Korea in 2007 with Kang Eun Young, Laurent Guanzini, and Gregor Hilbeonce again. He recorded Someday, and performed in Seoul alongside traditional musicians such as Kim Duk Soo. He also formed the Pee Bee (leader’s initials) in the same year with Claudio Pallaro, an Italian/Swiss saxophonist. This large jazz ensemble creates music together and performs with other artistic expressions such as dance and poetry. To date, the Pee Bee has recorded four albums: Welcome to PB in 2009 and All of us 13 (2014), Dolce Vita 2017 or not to be in 2020. He toured China and Egypt in 2017 with Ichiro Onoe, a Japanese drummer. He formed Night Bus in 2019 with Bojan Z, on piano, and Simon Goubert, on drums. He was nominated for the French Jazz Magazine’s top award, “CHOC”, and the album was also named Album of the Week by French National Radio “FIP”. It was also featured on Air France’s 2020 playlist. In addition to musicians already mentioned he has also performed with: Scott Hamilton, Ralph Moore, Peter Bernstein, Jesse Davis, David Prez, Dimitry Baevsky, Joe Magnarelli, Perico Sambeat, Charles Bellonzi, Simon Goubert, Adam Nussbaum, Paulo Fresu, Glenn Ferris, Guillaume de Chassy, Walter Thompson, Bruno Angelini, Emi Oshima, Olivier Ker Ourio, Bryan Ferry, Ted Hawke, Pete Osborne, N’ Guyen Le, Edouard Bineau, Patrick Cabon, Laurent Katz, Vincent Courtois, Laurent Coq, Elizabeth Kontamanu, Sapho, Romain Didier, Thomas Savy, Caroline Nin, Isabel Carpentier, Richard Raux, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Regis Huby, Cedric Klein Jeff Boudreaux, Florence Melnotte, Gildas Etevenard, Daniel Casimir, Benjamin Moussay, Nicolas Genest, Phillipe Soirat, Christophe Marguet, Louvette, Avram Feffer, Craig Handy, Sylvain Gontard, Benjamin Henock, John Betsch, Laurent Dehors, David Venitucci, Valentin Quentin, Patrick Bocquel, Vincent Frade, Georges Paczinski, Frederic Favarel, Pascal Harrand, Ichiro Onoe, Thierry Peala, Richard Clements, Serge Merlaud, Sangoma Everett, Jonathan Lewis, Yves Nahon, Manu Codjia, Misja Fitzgerald Michel, Frank Herrgott, Eric Echampard, Pierre Carrie, Soon E MC, Gilles Rea, Emil Spanyi, Wladimir Anselme, Matthieu Bore, Olivier Zanot, Marc Thomas, Geoffroy de Masure, Sebastien Texier, Pierre Vargoz, Jean Christophe Beney, Pierre Olivier Govin, Louis Moutin, Vinh Le, Simon Martineau, Daniel Beaussier, Stephane Gremaud, Matthieu Michel, Lars Lindvall, Jim Rotundi, Ilene Barnes, Gueorgui Kornazov, Bruno Barbier, Florence Grimald, Version Originale (spectacle comique) from http://garybrunton.com
