Guitarist/Composer/Improviser

The pursuit of the art of improvisation, involving a rich musical language, has been at the heart of Mike Murray’s musical journey for over 4 decades. Elements of jazz, rock, noise, contemporary classical, microtonal and various world traditions have all made their way into his music. Whether involved in original composition, free improvisation, the great American songbook or somewhere in between he is always pushing to explore new territory.

Mike is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music having received a degree in jazz composition while studying guitar with Jon Damien and is the recipient of the John Abercrombie Scholarship. He has also received a masters degree in jazz studies from the New England Conservatory having studied with Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Mick Goodrick and Dominique Eade. He has performed and/or recorded with Free Jazz icons Paul Flaherty and Randall Colbourne, the late Thomas Chapin, Royal Hartigan, Scott Thornton, Matt Moran, Rich McGhee, Steve Marien and many others in and around the New England/NY area. He has also performed as part of Anthony Braxton’s Tricentric Festival in NYC.

Mike has released 5 recordings of original and improvised music as a leader. The latest being “March of the Gene Keys” on PJCE Records. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest working with some of the Portland area's finest improvisers including Chris Lee, Shawn Wang, Dan Balmer, Alan Cook, Shao Way Wu, Noah Bernstein and Jeff Leonard among many others.