No other bass guitarist in the Huntsville area has refined such a sophisticated approach to accompaniment and soloing as Brandon Joseph Munday.
Adventurous, playful, and experimental, Munday attacks bass like a kid on a scavenger hunt, often astonishing himself as much as he dazzles listeners, at every turn of a phrase, chord progression, or chorus.
Discovery best describes Munday ’s overall attitude to music on bass, guitar, and composition. He is an explorer, pushing the boundaries of his understanding, skill, and aptitude and always searching for new formats of musical expression.
It’s not surprising that Munday has formulated his virtuosity on both the electric bass guitar and stand-up double bass by modeling jazz masters–modern and historic. Munday is often compared to the influential bassist, “Jaco” Pastorius, whose legendary solos with modern fusion jazz artists like Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, and Weather Report, are still marveled by bassists worldwide. Munday has studied and absorbed the masterful bass designs from Ray Brown to Charlie Mingus, and Paul McCartney to Victor Wooten.
Within weeks of his beginning on the bass, Munday was on stage learning the instrument, teaching his fingers to respond to his ideas, and facing the immediacy–the high wire act–that only live performance can instill and perfect. He learned by fear. He learned by doing.
When he was not on stage working or rehearsing with friends, he was studying. “Learning lots of songs too, I would just spend like hours learning an album. I’d start at the beginning and just learn the entire thing, really. I’d just come home from school and play, then my dad would come downstairs and just turn the power off and tell me to go outside because every day I’d go home and play.”
“At first I learned Black Sabbath. Then, when I was learning all that (Led) Zeppelin stuff, and Jimi Hendrix, that’s how I got into blues. Then I started to realize that a lot of the stuff they were playing was covers or different versions of older stuff and that’s how I found out about Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson. Then I discovered Oscar Peterson when I was probably in, like, grade nine or something… and that got me into the jazz. Then all of a sudden I found out about Jocko and Victor Wooten and all these other people. Now I’m all over the place!”
This fearlessness toward the instrument provided Munday access to almost every genre to which musicians attach themselves. Whether he was in a rock band, folk setting, reggae, or funk, Munday could set the groove and enhance the outcome.
He is particularly cherished for his soloing. Munday can get inside a song and insightfully reimagine the melody played octaves lower or slower or sped up or transform the feel and mood of the piece. Everyone remembers a great guitar solo or horn solos or vocal crescendo but to have a bass guitar lead the way is a feat worth hearing.
Below are two examples of recorded solos from Munday:
Before he came to Huntsville with his family for work, Munday labored in a series of bands around St. Catherines and made life-long friendships with colleagues he continues to jam with, and some who have helped him in his own recordings.
Soon after he came to Huntsville, Munday began recording and performing with a diverse group of local musicians, including singer-songwriters James Gray, Clayton Earle, Gina Horswood, and Christina Hutt, and in bands with Sean Cotton and Jeff Stamp. His longest association has been with the band Myrle, led by Jamie Clarke.
Munday has toured across Canada with Clarke. He also recorded on Myrle’s two latest albums including the popular ‘A Dozen Hearts’.
When Munday is not working with other artists, he is busy on his own recording projects and his series of bass compositions are posted routinely to Facebook and YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCti5xqkP90
His two album projects ‘399’ from 2017 and ‘Brandon Munday’, 2016, feature his compositions on which he performs all the various instrumental parts, including engineering and mixing the sessions. His writing is deeply influenced by his love of modern jazz sprinkled generously with elements of funk, reggae, and soul. In musical composition, Munday reveals his passion for avant-garde, free-form tonality, multi-layered syncopated rhythms, and joyful unrestrained impressionism. Both albums offer wholly unique portraits of artists.
To stay nimble and evolving, Munday challenges himself by learning new instruments. “I find it makes it a lot easier to play bass when I take some time to focus on a different instrument you’re not used to. I always find I discover something new”. This allows him to uncover new melodic revelations and time signatures, constantly on the outlook for ways and means to deepen his grasp of musical invention.
Outside his musical interests Munday is constantly investigating new ideas or older ideas revisited. An avid reader of philosophy, psychology, fiction, and poetry, Munday is inspired by those who seek to understand more than those who wish to opine. He has a passion for unconventional thinkers and he highly reveres those who write about the pursuit of inner freedom. For Munday, freethinking is the road to discovery and enrichment both in music and in life.
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