Ryan Burns

Musician/Teacher Ryan Burns is best-known for his jazz piano and Fender Rhodes-based keyboard work, having produced five CD’s as a bandleader, and dozens of projects as one of Seattle’s hardest working sidemen. Studied at Berklee School of Music, Burns has always been drawn to the worlds of jazz and rock, and those places where both meet. Employing the analog sounds of the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond, and Moog, Burns has a signature sound that has made it’s mark in groups such as Harrybu McCage (led by Pearl Jam/Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron), Matt Jorgensen +451, Bebop and Destruction, Thomas Marriott’s Willie Nelson Project, Zero-Goose, and others. Meanwhile, the acoustic Ryan Burns Trio explores the classic piano trio format, much in the lineage of greats Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans. Burns has taught at University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University and Cornish College of the Arts, and now owns & operates Burien School of Music, where he teaches piano, bass and guitar.

Album Reviews

Birds by Dan McClenaghan
Tree-O by Dan McClenaghan

Press: Ryan Burns - Electronic Keyboardist

“Keyboardist Ryan Burns has a controlled style on organ, Moog and Fender Rhodes, the latter played with a gorgeous chime-like tone.” -Scott Albin, Jazz Times

“On Fender Rhodes, Ryan Burns re-minds listeners that the instrument was one of the most successful attempts at an electric, piano-like sound. And, while it can sound retro-hip now, it also can be hip, plain and simple, and that's a far more worthy accomplishment.”

“...in the wake of all the good that Weather Report and Miles Davis had done for jazz electronification, he generally steers well clear of what are, at this remove, its many cliche's.” -Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz

“...with keyboardist Ryan Burns pulling wah-wah guitar sounds out of the ether, or maybe it's his Fender Rhodes, though I've never heard those sounds from one before. ...there are no limits to the noises made on his keyboards.” - Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“Burns snakes his way through the disc with inventive soloing and distorted synth clusters