Upstairs at Cherry Reds Presents Olivia Murphy

Creativity, narrative and honesty are integral elements to every musical choice Olivia Murphy makes as a composer, conductor and improviser and she is quickly establishing herself as an exciting voice on the British Jazz Scene. After receiving the 2021 Help Musicians’ Peter Whittingham Development Award, Olivia was able to establish a jazz orchestra under her own name creating her debut big band EP Somewhere Not So Far Away, recording live on Birmingham’s Symphony Hall Stage. In 2023, the orchestra returned for sold out performances at The Vortex Jazz Club and B:Jazz Festival. The orchestra features improvisers from both Birmingham and London jazz scenes, fusing large ensemble free improvisation and through written material with story telling at its core.

Her Moonrise trio, featuring Olivia on clarinet/ soprano saxophone and long term collaborators Becca Wilkins (voice) and Olly Chalk (piano), is a vehicle to explore smaller scaler compositions, open improvisation and song writing. Upon winning the Jazzlife Alliance Young Composer Award in 2021, the trio was able to record their self-titled EP Moonrise, released on David Lyttle’s Lyte Records in 2022.