Origin Hong Kong Parents Warren Finnerty Name Barry Finnerty | Website www.barryfinnerty.com Genres Jazz | |
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Born December 3, 1951 (age 72)
San Francisco, California, United States ( 1951-12-03 ) Occupation(s) Guitarist, keyboardist, singer/songwriter, arranger Associated acts Miles Davis
The Crusaders
Blood, Sweat & Tears Role Singer · barryfinnerty.com Books The Serious Jazz Practice Book, The Serious Jazz Book II, The Serious Jazz Music groups The Crusaders, Blood, Sweat & Tears (1977) Albums Trazz! (trance Jazz), Street Life, Chain Reaction, Crusaders 1, The Best of the Crusaders Similar People Stix Hooper, Randy Brecker, Warren Finnerty, Wilton Felder, Mike Stern | ||
Education Berklee College of Music | ||
Lunch at backbeat productions january 1985 freezing day new york city jon hammond and barry finnerty
Michael Barry Finnerty (born December 3, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and arranger, best known for his work as a touring and session musician for Miles Davis and the Crusaders. Finnerty is also the author of books on music improvisation.
Contents
- Lunch at backbeat productions january 1985 freezing day new york city jon hammond and barry finnerty
- Music career
- Discography
- References
Music career
Finnerty is the son of actor Warren Finnerty (1925–1974) who appeared in numerous films including Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Easy Rider (1969). He was born in San Francisco and raised on the West Coast, studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and University of California Berkeley.
He lived in Hong Kong with his mother in the early 1960s. When he was fourteen, he began playing electric guitar and joined a band that opened a show for Herman's Hermits. On returning to San Francisco, he became friends with guitarist Jim Checkley, who invited him to join Beefy Red in 1969. He played in that band for several years.
He moved to New York City after attending Berklee College of Music for a short time in 1971. In 1974 he began playing with Chico Hamilton, Airto Moreira, and Flora Purim. In 1975 he became a member of the Joe Farrell quartet,and later in the decade played with Hubert Laws, Tower of Power, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, and Ray Barretto.
Finnerty played and recorded with Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker (1977–81) and The Crusaders (1979–84), in addition to touring in Europe with Billy Cobham in 1980. He played and recorded with Miles Davis in 1981, being featured on much of Davis's 1981 album The Man with the Horn and is mentioned in Davis's autobiography.
Finnerty has worked both as a session musician and as leader of his own band.
Discography
With Chico Hamilton
With Afro Elements