Artist Bio

“Refreshingly cliche-avoiding, psychedelic-frosted, jazz-rooted, easy-going, warming ray of Afrobeat sunshine "
- Slow Music Movement

The instrumental music of composer and bassist Patrick Murphy, Sitka Sun draws influence from a wide range of musical traditions, with compositions built around interwoven melodies, meditative rhythms, and psychedelic textures. Sitka Sun - at its deepest roots - is a jazz project, brimming with skilled composition & talented players, each one having a critical role in developing their distinctive, multi-dimensional sound. Murphy has been a student of music for most of his life - picking up a guitar for the first time at twelve, gigging with blues bands throughout grade school, studying jazz and classical music at Ithaca Conservatory of Music in New York, and being a part of numerous musical ensembles and bands from New York City to the Bay Area. Drawing inspiration from African and Caribbean music - filtered through the lens of an American blues, jazz, and soul upbringing - Murphy developed a wide range of styles, playing everything from jazz to afrobeat, americana to funk. After years of being a sideman, Murphy began to hone in on a new, but classic, sound, and began composing the music that would ultimately become Sitka Sun.