John Finbury

John Finbury is a Grammy® and Latin Grammy® nominated composer based in Andover Massachusetts. His earliest music education and influence came from his father Herb,  a musician (violin) and one of the first jazz composition students at  the Schillinger School in Boston, which would later become Berklee  College Of Music. In his teenage years, John played rock & roll  drums, most notably at the “The Bitter End” in New York City. In  college, John studied classical piano and music theory and composition  at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge and Boston University.

Seeking another connection to music, John ran a legendary movie house  and concert hall in Salem, MA, hosting performances by BB King, Bonnie  Raitt, Richard Thompson, REM, Eric Burton and The Animals, and Pat  Metheny, among many others. In a parallel life, John has been a  practicing attorney for 35 years, though you’ll never hear him refer to  his law practice as a “day job”, but rather his other “profession.”

John married his lifelong muse Patty Brayden, who sings and is a  frequent collaborator as a lyricist; they have often performed locally  as part of the Jazz Sextet Day For Night. John’s old friend Ned  Claflin (who has also worked with Madonna and Martin Sexton) is another  important associate in the lyrics department.

In what he recognizes as his first professional commission as a  composer, in 1979 John wrote and recorded a soundtrack for Portraits  from the 2 O’Clock Lounge, a TV documentary by Fred Simon produced for  WGBH Boston. The R&B and pop songs he wrote and recorded in the  early 80s have garnered current critical attention, with many being  acquired in 2014 by  Fervor Records.  This renewed interest in his music sparked a new era in John’s  composing focused on his longstanding interest in the beautiful music of  Brazil.

In October 2014 John released an EP of four original songs of  Brazilian Jazz called The Green Flash. All four songs were nominated  for The American Songwriting Awards in 2015, with “SambaDan” winning the  award for Best Instrumental.

2015 saw the release of “Imaginário,” an album consisting of 11  original songs of Brazilian jazz featuring vocalist Marcella Camargo,  accompanied by some of Boston’s finest musicians, including longtime  members of Paquito D’Rivera’s band Oscar Stagnaro and Mark Walker, Tim  Ray, and Grammy-winning guitarist Claudio Ragazzi.

In 2016, Finbury shocked the Latin Music scene when a cut from  Imaginário called “A Chama Verde,” was nominated for a Latin Grammy  for Song Of The Year. In 2017, John released his second Brazilian jazz-infused album Pitanga with the same lineup, which received critical acclaim.

Finbury’s album Sorte!, in collaboration with Brazilian  singer-songwriter Thalma de Freitas was released in May 2019. With music  by John and lyrics and vocals by Thalma, they recorded six original  songs at The Powerstation Studios in New York City, produced by Latin  Grammy winner Emilio D. Miler, who assembled an All-Star band featuring  Vitor Gonçalves, Chico Pinheiro, Duduka de Fonseca, John Patitucci,  Rogerio Boccato and the legendary Airto Moreira. On November 21, 2019,  Sorte! Was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz  Album.

In May 2020, John released two new albums of original music: American  Nocturnes- Final Days Of July” presenting intimate chamber jazz  instrumental music uniquely arranged for piano, cello, guitar,  accordion, and harmonica, and a new Latin Jazz album, QUATRO, featuring  Magos Herrera, Chano Domínguez, John Patitucci, and Antonio Sánchez.