Quick Facts
Biography
Gary Brunotte (born 1948) is an American post-bop jazz musician, noted as a pianist, organist, music arranger, and composer. He is from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Brunotte began on accordion at age 9, but switched to organ and then piano in his 20s while attending college. He was an instructor at the Berklee College of Music in [Boston from 1977-1980. While living in Boston, he studied piano with Charlie Banacos.
Upon leaving Berklee he moved to New York City, where he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to write a big band suite for the Boston-based Herb Pomeroy Big Band in 1981. From 1987 to 1991 he worked at Coda Music Software and was instrumental in the development and release of a music notation software called Finale written by Phil Farrand.
In 1992 Brunotte recorded his debut CD for distribution by the Altenburgh record label. It included saxophonist Eric Marienthal, plus two members from the group Flim & the BB's. From 2004-2007 he recorded three additional CDs under his own label again using drummer Bill Berg formerly of Flim & the BB's. In 2008 he released a CD on the Sincopato Records label with former Berklee classmate and good friend, Gian Wiegner. It was a quartet (organ/guitar/bass/drums) format. Brunotte currently resides in Durham, North Carolina and graduated in 2010 with a Master of Music Degree - Jazz Studies from North Carolina Central University.
Select discography
- Yesterdays Dream - 1993
- Conversations - 2005
- Smile - 2006
- Manic Moments 2007
- About Time - 2008