Ryan Burns Music

Press: Ryan Burns - Electronic Keyboardist

"Keyboardist Ryan Burns has a controlled style on organ, Moog and Fender Rhodes, the latter played with a gorgeous chime-like tone."
-Scott Albin, Jazz Times

"On Fender Rhodes, Ryan Burns re-minds listeners that the instrument was one of the
most successful attempts at an electric, piano-like sound. And, while it can sound retro-hip now,
it also can be hip, plain and simple, and that's a far more worthy accomplishment."

"...in the wake of all the good that Weather Report and Miles Davis had done
for jazz electronification, he generally steers well clear of what are, at this remove, its many cliche's."
-Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz

"...with keyboardist Ryan Burns pulling wah-wah guitar sounds out of the ether, or maybe it's his Fender Rhodes,
though I've never heard those sounds from one before."
- Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

Burns' concoction of mysterioso fizzing and burbling adds menace and mystery...
- Christopher Delaurenti, The Stranger

"The jazz/rock aesthetic comes in large part from Burns, for whom there are no limits to the noises made on his keyboards."
- Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

"And the most underrated but important part of any Classic Rock band,
Ryan Burns throws out his keys with reckless abandon."
-Christopher Ryan Disario, Seattle Sinner

"Burns snakes his way through the disc with inventive soloing and distorted synth clusters. His out-of- left-field accompaniment on the second half of “Crazy” is worth the price of admission."
- John Barron, All About Jazz

Press: Ryan Burns - Pianist/Composer

"Burns has a fantastically fertile brain, prodding the music with unexpected voicings and twisted runs; as with the best pianists, his comping is as intriguing as his solos."
-Mark D. Fefer, Seattle Weekly

"Solid on piano, forthrightly bluesy, Ryan Burns is one of those workmanlike pianists you could listen
to pleasurably all night. He catches your attention
for how steadily and appealingly he plays piano."
-Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz

"Burns continues to impress as a composer. It's good to see that Seattle's
promising new mainstream talent has much to offer."
-Jim Santella, Cadence Magazine

"Burns' energetic and bright piano technique is both melodic and bluesy and shows
the marked influence of Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington."
-Eric Madis, Victory Review

March '09 Earshot CD Review

Ryan Burns Trio: Live at the Lab (Odd Bird Records ODD002)

Recorded live at the Seattle Drum School L.A.B. in October 2007, Live at the Lab has a warm, intimate feel, similar to the albums that Bill Evans made at the Village Vanguard. Every nuance is audible, whether it’s pianist Ryan Burns’s impeccable touch, in which each note in his single-note lines has a shape of its own, the lingering resonance of bassist Jeff Johnson’s plucked notes, or the clean attack and crystal clear ringing of drummer Tad Britton’s cymbals.

The album’s six tracks are highly varied and include Cole Porter’s “Allof You,” Peter Erskine’s “The Lady inthe Lake,” and Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints.” Other groups try to prove their funkiness by brutalizing the funk out of “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” Not so here. Joe Zawinul’s classic is inherently funky, and it takes mature musicians to realize this and to let the funk grow organically. The trio does just this, and by its end, “Mercy’s” funk is in full bloom. The album also includes a divine interpretation of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman.” Whereas the woman in Coleman’s original is bold,
searing, and sultry, Burns’s woman is quiet, demure, and mysterious. As she paces up and down his keyboard her tiny feet place notes on the listener’s ears as soft raindrops place themselves upon a still pond. But it’s not all subdued introspection, as Johnson and Britton supply some of the urgency and energy present in the original with surging lines, rumblings, and strong attacks that drive the music forward. The dichotomy between Burns and his peers creates a unique and engaging take on this gem.

Live at the Lab is an excellent album that grows on me more with each listen. The group is highly cohesive, and its style and approach remains consistent throughout this stylistically diverse set. For those who appreciate an excellently recorded and mastered album, listen to this. For those who appreciate a group with a fully realized identity, listen to this. For those who appreciate creative music that has one foot firmly rooted in tradition while the other steps forward, buy this album out of sheer principle.

- Chris Robinson