Barry Finnerty

Michael Barry Finnerty (born December 3, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and arranger, known for his work as a touring and recording session musician for Miles Davis, The Crusaders, the Brecker Brothers, Hubert Laws, and Ray Barretto. Finnerty is also the author of books on music improvisation and a semi-autobiographical novel.

Finnerty was born in San Francisco and raised on the West Coast, studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and University of California Berkeley.

He lived in Hong Kong with his mother in the early 1960s. When he was fourteen, he began playing electric guitar andjoined a band that opened a show for Herman's Hermits. On returning to San Francisco, he became friends with guitarist Jim Checkley, who invited him to join Beefy Red in 1969. He played in that band for several years.

He moved to New York City after attending Berklee College of Music for a short time in 1971. In 1974 he began playing with Chico Hamilton, Airto Moreira, and Flora Purim. In 1975 he became a member of the Joe Farrell quartet, and later in the decade played with Hubert Laws, Tower of Power, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, and Ray Barretto.

Finnerty played and recorded with Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker (1977–81) and The Crusaders (1979–84), in addition to touring in Europe with Billy Cobham in 1980. He played and recorded with Miles Davis in 1981, being featured on much of Davis's 1981 album The Man with the Horn and is mentioned in Davis's autobiography.

Finnerty has worked both as a session musician and as leader of his own bands.

He released his first jazz education book, The Serious Jazz Practice Book, in 2006. The work was endorsed by notable musicians including Randy Brecker, Bob Sheppard and Dave Liebman. Finnerty authored a follow up work in 2008, The Serious Jazz Book II, endorsed by jazz flautist Hubert Laws. In 2016 Finnerty released a novel loosely based on his life in New York City in the mid-90s.

Finnerty is the son of actor Warren Finnerty (1925–1974) who appeared in numerous films including Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Easy Rider (1969). He is married to artist and songwriter Clarita Zarate.

As leader

• New York City (Victor, 1982)
• Lights on Broadway (Morning, 1985)
• 2B Named Later (Cheetah, 1988)
• Straight Ahead (Arabesque, 1995)
• Trazz! (Birdland, 2003)
• Manhattan Sessions Part 1 (ESC, 2009)
• Blues for Trane (Finn, 2010)
• Nothing's Gonna Be All Right (as the Bad Barry Finnerty Collective) (Birdland, 2015)

As sideman

With Miles Davis

• The Man with the Horn (Columbia, 1981)

With the Brecker Brothers

• Heavy Metal Be-Bop (Arista, 1978)
• Straphangin' (Arista, 1981)

With The Crusaders

• Street Life (MCA, 1979)
• Standing Tall (MCA, 1981)
• Royal Jam (MCA, 1982)

With Chico Hamilton

• Peregrinations (Blue Note, 1975)

With Hubert Laws

• Romeo & Juliet (Columbia, 1977)
• Say It with Silence (Columbia, 1978)

With Opa

• Magic Time (Milestone, 1977)