I’ll be starting off going into the studio with SCHOOLTREE to record our first full-band album at Dimension Sound Studios.

On May 6th, we sadly, but proudly, bid a fond farewell to Mary Dolan.  She has set her sights on Hollywood, and is leaving to study with the Groundlings.  We will miss her, but first a big party before she goes!  Happy Trails: A Send Off To Mary Dolan @ Club Oberon.  I’ll be paying tribute via the house-band: Elephant Tango Ensemble.

Kristen Ford Band:I’ll be playing with the Kristen Ford Band at Sally O’Brien’s on Tuesday May 15th & 22nd.  Both shows at 8:30pm

On May 20th, I’ll be debuting a new work (music & dance improv) with Karin Webb during “Dark & Stormy” at Club Oberon.

TimeStamp: Our sessions from the Somerville Theatre are nearing the end of their mix phase.  Up next is mastering.

Indiscreet Discretion: I’m very excited to announce that I’m composing music for Silvia Gratziano’s new play: Indiscreet Discretion.

“The production will combine traditional theatre with original dance by Contrapose Dance Company and will feature live music performed by composer Brendan Burns. The script has a touch of both Edgar Allen Poe and Harold Pinter, mixing reality with surrealism, blending the dark and the delicious.“

The music is written and will be performed as duets with myself, plus a rotating case of amazing players: Kathy Olson (Baritone Sax), Tony Leva (Upright Bass), Kirsten Lamb (Upright Bass) and Valerie Thompson (Cello).  Stay tuned for more info about these very special shows.

w/ SchoolTree: Saturday, March 3rd at Cafe @ Armory

w/Kristen Ford Band: Tuesday, March 6th @ Sally O’Brien’s

Sunday, March 18th @ 3:30pm on Yurt Radio‘s WAXWING with Molly Zenobia

w/Molly Zenobia: Monday, March 19th @ The Burren‘s Big Night Out (no cover)

w/Kristen Ford Band: Tuesday, March 20th @ Sally O’Brien’s

w/Mary Dolan: Friday, March 23rd @ WICF’s Mary Dolan’s Stand-Up Comedy Showcase (10:30pm)

w/Kristen Ford Band & SchoolTree: Tuesday, March 27th @ Sally O’Brien’s

w/Kristen Ford Band @ RADIO: Friday, March 30th

Last week I setup at the Somerville Theatre for 3 days and recorded an album of original tunes with some of the most talented musicians I know.

I brought in a mobile recording studio and a film crew to document the sessions (two per day) with five different ensembles (plus one solo guitar improv).  Together we were 15 musicians, 2 audio engineers, 6 camera operators and 2 assistants.  The end result is an incredible live recording of 7 compositions, 3.5 hours of improvisation and about a terabyte of footage.

I’m currently humbled, excited and in love with everything that happened.  I’m still trying to figure out how this will be presented, but I want to share with you some of the process.

To start, here is an excerpt of the e-mail I sent to all players involved earlier this month:

In just a matter of days, we are all going on an adventure to the Somerville Theatre.  This is a project and a reality that has incredible meaning to me.  Thank you for being a part of it.

I’ve asked each and ev

eryone one of you to play on this session because I like you.  I’m inspired by your musicianship, humanity, and contribution to the world.  Plus, I really want to make music with you.

The working title for this project is TimeStamp.  The concept is simply to meet in a beautiful sounding theatre and make music together.  The recording aspect essentially serves as a way to represent where we were on the third week of February in 2012.  I don’t know what will happen with these recordings when we are done.  Regardless if they turn into an album, or we use them for our own private listening, the emphasis is on recording the moments that we have together.

I appreciate you all.  Thank you for contributing yourselves to this adventure.

For every session, we would setup our instruments/amps so that we could hear and be in balance with each other (we had no headphones or isolation).  Ariel Bernstein close-mic’d all instruments, and placed area mics on the stage and in the center of the theatre.  We introduced ourselves to the pieces and recorded the rehearsal process.  After about 4 or 5 takes we would notice that we built a tune into

something nice, and with a consensus of smiles, we’d move onto the next tune and/or the next ensemble.  The days were full, and the music was inspired and treated with great care.

I’m thrilled to say that we captured something very special with the audio.  There is a great feel to all the performances and the sound of the theatre is right there in the recording.  Everything is open, clear and exposed.  I’m completely in love with the sound of this project.

The film component is proving to be emotional and endearing as it shows the love we all have for each other as musicians and collaborators.  Alexia Prichard (film director) has put together a teaser trailer to help give you an idea of what happened: TimeStamp Teaser Trailer

Over the next few months, we’ll be mixing and mastering the audio, and Alexia and her team will be editing the video.  I’m not sure if this will be one album or two, or if the documentary will be 10mins or 10 hours.  Pieces are still falling into place.

Stay tuned.

Keep in touch.

TimeStamp Ensemble – February 20, 21st & 22nd @ Somerville Theatre

• Brendan Burns – Guitar
• Nick Grondin – Guitar
• Tony Leva – Bass
• Raky Sastri – Drums
• Valerie Thompson – Cello
• Molly Zenobia – Keyboard
• Lainey SchoolTree – Keyboard
• Derek VanWormer – Bass
• Jordan Ross – Drums
• Eliza Kopczyńska – Violin
• Michelle Rush – Viola
• David Aquilina – Trumpet
• Chris Veilleux – Alto Sax
• Kathy Olson – Bari Sax
• Grant Randall – Trombone
• Ariel Bernstein – Head Engineer
• Toby Chandler – Engineer
• Alexia Prichard – Film Director
• Gonzalo Plaza – Camera Operator
• Ronny Preciado – Camera Operator
• Sarah Patterson – Camera Operator
• Stephen Atkinson – Camera Operator
• Jordan Stallings – Camera Operator
• Jamie Little – Assistant
• Jason Boyle – Assistant

• Billie Jean
• Warning Sign

I will be making a small guest appearance at The Gibson/Antonellis Comedy Hour tickets available here.

On Thursday, February 9th I’ll be performing with SchoolTree & sitting in on a few tune with What Time Is It Mr. Fox? at Church.  Goli opens the night at 9pm.

I will be playing with Molly Zenobia as well as presenting an original work of my own at Dream Within A Dream: Box Five’s Edgar Allan Poe Tour @ The Somerville Theatre on Wednesday, October 5th (Facebook Invite).

Since 1994, Tunefoolery’s simple, yet powerful message has been to emphasize people’s strengths by focusing on their abilities; not disabilities. Tunefoolery’s 50 musicians perform (as solo acts and in ensembles) at hospitals, nursing homes and other venues where quality live music is needed. The span of styles range from rock ‘n’ roll to classical.  Tunefoolery also provides their members with discounted guitar and voice lessons.

I believe that Tunefoolery represents a profound development in the awareness, acceptance, and care for mental illness in our community.  Their work is helping erase the social stigma of mental illness, and educating us that we all exist on a mental health continuum – just as we do with our physical health.

I am putting together an awareness concert for Tunefoolery on Friday, August 19th at the LilyPad (1353 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA) – 7pm.  My goal of this concert to raise awareness about what mental illness is and what it is not, and to help help “Stop The Stigma” by booking boston-based musicians and Tunefoolery members on a collaborative bill.  Performers include Mali Sastri, Tony Leva and Raky Sastri (of Jaggery), Sarah Rabdau (of Sarah Rabdau & The Self-Employed Assassins), Molly Zenobia, Lainey SchoolTree, Brian King (of What Time Is It Mr. Fox), myself (Brendan Burns), and seven Tunefoolery members.  The evening will be hosted by Jens Rybo (director of Tunefoolery), Aimee Rose Ranger & Brendan Burns, and will showcase a collection of music from all artists as well information about Tunefoolery and mental illness in general.

STOP THE STIGMA

An Awareness Concert for Tunefoolery

7pm Friday, August 19th @ the LilyPad ($8)

1353 Mass Ave. (Inman Sq), Cambridge

Luckily for me, I love to work.

This past week I gave myself permission to create without the bonds of judgement or the pressure of a deadline in the woods of New Hampshire.  And as much as I love and understand composing, I found it incredibly challenging.

When I arrived to the cabin on Tuesday, I unloaded my gear and immediately went to the grocery store.  I knew that I wanted to spend as much time as possible at the cabin, so I quickly bought one of everything that I thought I might ever want to eat during that week in the hopes that I would not have to leave my composer’s den again.  When I got back, I put away my food and set up a workstation where everything was in just the right place.  And then I took a nap.  And then I made coffee.  And then dinner.  And as the evening progressed, it became apparent that I was afraid to write, and so I forced myself to sit down and play guitar.  I played for about 45mins and banged around a couple of ideas.  I wasn’t judging anything I was working on, but I did notice the process was difficult and the results were small.  I started to realize I was out of practice.  I spent the rest of the evening on the porch with the acoustic guitar and listened to the woods.  I played along with the wind, and the night bird, and all of the bugs, and prayed that I would not be attacked by a bear or an axe-murderer.

The next day, I slept in a lot later than I usually do.  I made breakfast, sat out on the porch, played guitar, sketched out ideas and then moved inside to repeat those same activities.  The ideas were slow and small, but they were a bit easier than the day before.  I could see the potential for momentum and was curious where it would be at the end of the week.

As the days progressed my sketches got bigger and the recordings increased in length.  My ability to articulate more complex concepts grew stronger each day.  Somewhere in the week I started writing for specific ensembles and specific musicians – some that I know, and others that I haven’t met yet.

Late in the week I began to fixate on a few tunes and their development.  There was a string trio + guitar & drums piece that captivated me for at least 20 hours over a couple days.  There was another piece for a Fender Rhodes and electric guitar that kept twisting and turning until it finally revealed itself on the last day.

And then there were some pieces that stretched my idea of what it meant to compose music.  I wrote some sketches/exercises for an ensemble that utilizes spontaneous composition and free improvisation.  I wrote a couple pieces in a style that doesn’t have a name – it uses a musical form that’s more like a narrative or treasure map.

Over the week, I recorded 50 audio sketches (2 hours and 20 minutes of music), composed 8 ideas for a medium sized ensemble, and created a dozen or so architectural drafts for improvisation.  That feels like a lot, but the numbers don’t hold the meaning.  The truth is, a lot of these ideas are not going to be developed.  Some have potential, but others were just part of the process.

Throughout July & August I’m going to spend some time with these sketches and see what it worth keeping and developing.  I expect to have something ready for performance in August and I’ll try to have some recordings available by September.

At the end of it all, I’m right back at the beginning.  There is still no goal or agenda, but there is a drive and the process is more clear.

Thanks for being curious about the project.