Biography

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Phelan Burgoyne (1994) is a British drummer and composer based in Firenze, Italy. Born into an artistic family, he grew up playing Rock, Jazz and Classical percussion in the cultural county of Suffolk on the east coast of England. At age sixteen he moved to London where he was accepted on a full scholarship to the prestigious Purcell school for young musicians and went on to attain a first class degree from the Royal Academy of Music, London (where he studied with Martin France and Jeff Williams) and took part in the Erasmus exchange programme at the Hochschule für Musik, Basel, Switzerland (where he was taught by Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier).

 

In the years since graduating, Burgoyne has gained an international reputation touring across the U.K, Europe and beyond, releasing a plethora of critically acclaimed albums as a leader and co-leader; Unquiet Quiet (2015) and Verdasio (2019) with his trio featuring veteran British saxophonist Martin Speake and rising star guitarist Rob Luft, Introducing REBOP (2018) and Live at Veganz n' Roses (2019) an Anglo-German quintet featuring legend Jorge Rossy on vibraphone and Downhill  (2019), a free Jazz trio with Oded Geizhals and Nadav Erlich. Divertimento (2018) in duo with Italian ECM artist pianist Emanuele Maniscalco, and On Thursday (2020) in trio featuring Danish bass veteran Anders Christensen both on the Berlin based HOUT label. In 2021 Burgoyne curated and produced Yazgol - the previously unrecorded compositions of Paul Motian featuring special guests Larry Grenadier, Tal Yahalom and Nicolas Masson and released a new home recordings entitled The Grain (2021) featuring James Kitchman, Jakub Cywinski and Zac Gvirtzman. 

 

Most recently Burgoyne completed a series of recordings entitled Frescoes featuring Kit Downes, Emanuele Maniscalco, Sam Braysher, Tom Challenger, Xaver Rüegg and Fabien Ianonne which will be released in instalments on the new Zürich based record label 8004 Records. He and is developing a new piano trio in Firenze with Italian rising stars Alessandro Lanzoni and Michelangelo Scandroglio called “Wisteria Days”. 

 

As a sideman, recent projects include; Kit Downes' Dreamlife of Debris, The Yumi Ito Orchestra, The Francois Lana Trio, Ursula Bachmann's Bewildered Hearts and The Alex Ventling Trio.

 

 Outside of Jazz, Burgoyne studies the Rubāb; a traditional lute from Afghanistan with Professor John Baily and Ustad Daud Khan Sadozai, the Tabla with Sri Subhajit Brahmachari and is beginning to learn the Oboe. He also works as a professional photographer. 

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