Murray Brothers: On making their debut album, Murrays Law, with David Lyttle

Growing up in Donegal, you were surrounded by traditional Irish music – how did you move from that to jazz?

I started playing the harmonica from a young age, and Conor began playing electric bass. I began getting into old school blues harmonica players like Little Walter, and Conor into players like Victor Wooten. Soon we found ourselves naturally progressing into more jazz artists. From a really young age we were always playing together too, as a duo and also with our older brothers. Playing blues and more country-style songs, along with a real interest in improvisation, led us to jazz in a natural way. I started with saxophone and Conor with double bass later on, and the experiences we gained from those instruments drew us massively to jazz.

As organisers of Falcarragh Winter Jazz Festival, what’s it been like bringing the music you love to your hometown?

It’s been an amazing experience. The warmth and positivity surrounding it through the community there has been beautiful, and we’re really grateful to be able to bring the music to a town like this. For a lot of people, it’s been their first time experiencing music or artists like that. To also be able to introduce new people traveling here for the festival to our community has been another really special part of it. We’re excited for what lies ahead for it.

What was it like working with MOBO-nominated composer and musician David Lyttle on your new album?

David is someone that we’ve been privileged enough to know and be mentored by since we were young teenagers. In this particular trio format, we’ve been lucky to have had so many opportunities to perform together, and it was really exciting to be able to record this. To have someone of David’s experience and knowledge recording and also producing the album was invaluable. We learned so much from him throughout the entire process. The level of musicianship he sets is really inspiring for us too, and that was a great element to have in the studio for Murrays Law.

You’ve played with some jazz icons – what have been the stand-out moments of your career so far?

Playing with Jason Rebello was definitely an important and stand-out moment. To hear and make music with a player like Jason who has so much depth and knowledge was incredibly inspiring and motivating for both of us. Performing with New York pianist Michael Kanan was another stand-out moment too, and another moment of us leaving the bandstand really inspired and having learnt so much.

What do you think of the state of jazz in Ireland right now?

We’ve been really lucky to have had so many amazing opportunities to perform in Ireland, as young professionals starting back in 2019, doing a 27-date tour of Ireland as part of the David Lyttle Trio. We have found the people to be really warm and receptive to the music we play, and it leaves us feeling optimistic for the future whenever live music opens up again here.

What are your plans for the months ahead?

We’re planning to do a tour in the late summer as part of the Murrays Law album launch. We’re really looking forward to getting back to playing music for people again. We’ve also been talking about composition a lot lately. We really enjoyed writing for Murrays Law, and we’re going to be focusing on writing more music with our trio, as well as with some other projects. We also have some more artists we’d love to play with and bring to Ireland once things have opened up more.

• Murrays Law is out now – supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.