Nick Hodges
Staff Writer
Alumnus Brian Tuley is an experience and dedicated musician, as well as an architect in musical respects. As a freshman attending California Sate University, Long Beach, he is a student in their jazz studies program..
Tuley is currently working on a solo project entitled Architect and has issued his debut album, a self-titled eclectic mix of modern jazz and electronica. His self-titled album works with many unique sounds and a few instruments to create composites of new noises. Much like an architect, Tuley builds and tears down from time to time only to build even bigger on the next project.
Tuley is currently working under some of the most prestigious names in music at Cal State Long Beach. Tuley is studying as a Bassoon major under Michelle Grego, the second chair Bassoonist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is not a one-trick-pony instrumentalist; Tuley has played the Tenor Saxophone since the age of eight and has more recently taken up the Flute.
Despite exploring these three instruments, Tuley’s first musical love is the Tenor Saxophone. As a Saxophonist, he has trained both classically and in jazz under the instructor David Sills. Sills is one of Tuley’s biggest influences in music and has helped interpret and identify the music Tuley fell in love with at an early age on an analytical level.
Jazz is a very important aspect in Tuley’s musical career and life. It is a prevalent influence in his work in Architect. Jazz improvisation is heard throughout the entire album, along with various sounds which he sampled and looped himself.
Since middle school, Tuley has come a long way in his work with music in general. He has expanded upon his jazz and classical work imensely and now integrates his computer into his work.
“I have come light years from where I was as a kid to the musician I am now. As I can compile more software into my computer, I’m probably going to start taking a much more electronic laptop approach to my music,” Tuley said.
In high school, Tuley was in both the Chamber and Jazz programs at Mira Costa. Tuley says he learned a great deal, in the span of time he was at Mira Costa and that it helped him grow as a musician. He credits his time in the programs with helping him develop his own music.
The experimental nature of the project differs from what he has been doing in his jazz and classical work. He explores the realm of sounds and what he can do with them. He credits Animal Collective and Dan Deacon as being influences to his experimental music, to his foundations in jazz he attributes his father as one of his greatest influences as well as Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, and Phillip Glass.
“I grew up listening to my dad play Saxophone. Watching my father play along with jazz records was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen.” Tuley said.
Tuley is currently focusing most of his time on his music studies. He is in the process of composing a symphony as well. Architect, he says, at the moment is something he does on his off time. He has said he will do more things with it, but for now he is just experimenting where he can take it.
Leave a Reply