Jake McMurchie saxophonist and Wordpress developer

Jake McMurchie

I’m a musician and composer.

I play the saxophone. I’m an improvisor who primarily works within the jazz world. I love swing and standards as much as free improv and have an interest in ambient music and using electronics as adjuncts to the saxophone.

“If there were a prize for forming bands with instantly distinctive sounds, Bristol-based saxophonist Jake McMurchie would surely carry it off”

More about music

I’m a website designer and developer.

I design and build websites using HTML/CSS, PHP/MySQL, javascript and jQuery, and pull all these together with WordPress, building custom themes, plugins, and Gutenberg blocks. I’m comfortable using git, node/npm, and sass. I have a keen in interest in usability, accessibility, and performance.

Sustainability is a key aspect of my ethos. I build websites that are fast, clean, light, and easy to use. Many of my clients are charities and NGOs working to support those on the environmental frontline. Communication is key and I hope all my clients appreciate my ability to explain the intricacies of technology in a jargon-free way. It seems to work: many of my clients have been with me for over a decade.

More about websites

I live in Bristol

I was born in south-east London, but have lived most of my life in Bristol, in the United Kingdom. I went to Henbury School and have a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University. I’m married, have two university-age children, and a dog. I’m a keen cook, a very amateur astronomer and occasionally play football. Very badly.

Musician and composer

If there were a prize for forming bands with instantly distinctive sounds, Bristol-based saxophonist Jake McMurchie would surely carry it off. As a key driving force behind the award-winning quartet Get The Blessing, McMurchie has moved from bass-groove to live-wire industrial loopy without dropping a beat.

London Jazz News

Where has he been? … a very, very good saxophonist. Very original, very passionate… a very sexy sound.

Radio 3 Jazz Lineup

…the inventive McMurchie, his sensual tone falling somewhere between early Sonny Rollins and Pink-Panther tenorist Plas Johnson, was a revelation.

London Evening Standard

In 2022 I was surprised and delighted to be included in the Marlbank feature “UK Saxophone: 30 leading the way”

Michelson Morley

Featuring Mark Whitlam on drums and electronics, Will Harris on bass, and Dan Messore on guitar, Michelson Morley released “Aether Drift” on the F-IRE Presents label on 28th April 2014. This was followed in 2016 by “Strange Courage” released on the seminal Babel Label.

It’s really imaginative contemporary music, with a hot free-jazz core.

Review of Strange Courage, John Fordham, The Guardian ****

They’ve lost none of the inventiveness they displayed on their first album … really unique

Nick Luscombe, Late Junction

… the sparse textures and nu-groove-with-loops aspects link to post-rock aesthetic as much as they do contemporary UK jazz … more than good enough to get the blessing from Jazzwise.

Jazzwise Magazine ****

…liberating flexibilities of time and space certainly characterise McMurchie’s fine first album as a composer/leader

Review of Aether Drift, The Guardian

There is really nothing like it, especially by a saxophonist … a testament to the extraordinary cohesion of the three musicians.

Live review, Charley Dunlap, Listomania

Get The Blessing

Previously named The Blessing, the band I share with Pete Judge, Jim Barr and Clive Deamer.

the heavyweights of the contemporary jazz scene.

The Independent

GTB’s debut album All Is Yes won Album of the Year 2008 in the BBC Jazz Awards. Bugs In Amber was released in May 2009, and in March 2012 we released OCDC, followed by Lope And Antilope in January 2014. October 2015 saw the release of our 5th record Astronautilus and, in 2018, we released Bristopia. In 2019 we celebrated our 20th birthday, and supplemented our anniversary gig with Rarer Teas, a compilation of gems that never made it onto an album.

Other projects

I have my own acoustic quartet featuring Riaan Vosloo, Dan Moore and Matt Brown.

I also play with :

Out Front
featuring Nick Malcolm, Olie Brice, Dave Smith, and Jason Yarde

The Jazz Defenders

Tony Orrell’s Big Top

Riann Vosloo’s Uphill Game

At the beginning of 2020 Keith Tippett called me and asked me to join his band as a replacement for Paul Dunmall. My debut gig with the band was due to take place on the day he died. I was very proud to take part in the memorial concert in St Georges, Bristol in September 2021.

I have played with Bobby Shew, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Portishead, Massive Attack, Super Furry Animals, Nadine Khouri, The Goon Sax, The Invisible Pair of Hands, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and with the great Portuguese singer Fernando Tordo at the National Theatre in Lisbon.

Past projects include What Four and Ultrasound. What Four was one of the first jazz groups to be accepted onto Yehudi Menuhin’s outreach organisation “Live Music Now!” What Four was commissioned by the Bath Festival to collaborate with contemporary dance choreographer Yael Flexer in 1997, and in 1998 was awarded the New Technology Commission by Birmingham Jazz resulting in a project entitled Synergy combining live improvisation with popular dance music, electronics, and sampling, one of the first such projects in the UK jazz scene. This was performed at Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2000 alongside the Courtney Pine Group.

Website design and development

I’m a WordPress developer and have been working with WordPress since 2006. I like to build fast, performant, easy to use websites with a low carbon footprint. I like to build custom themes from the ground up using git, node/npm, sass, JavaScript, jQuery. I can write plugins and create Gutenberg blocks. And there’s always something new to learn.

I really appreciate all of the patience you’ve had, and all the work you’ve put in to get the site to where it is.  Everyone at AEF is really pleased with it.

Lizzie Harrocks, Aviation Environment Federation

I’m feeling so much more confident about all this thanks to your expert help & also having you gently steer me in the right direction to just generally have a go! Actually starting to be quite excited about this new piece of work taking off instead of feeling overwhelmed.  

Naomi Seager, Pause Breathe Feel Yoga Studio

Portfolio

www.petejudgemusic.com

Pete Judge Music
Website for musician and composer extraordinaire Pete Judge. A lean, minimalist site that showcases the diversity of his career while also achieving 100% Lighthouse score for performance.
www.petejudgemusic.com

www.leuserfund.org

Leuser Ecosystem Action Fund
A website showcasing the extraordinary beauty of the Leuser Ecosystem and providing information about the group coordinating funding to protect it.
www.leuserfund.org

environmentalpaper.org/tools-and-resources/mapping-bioenergy

Environmental Paper Network Biomass Facility Map
I worked with the Environmental Paper Network and the Global Forest Coalition to produce a bespoke map pinpointing biomass facilities around the world. The map was produced using Open Street Maps, LeafletJS, and custom javascript, and converted to a plugin allowing it to be embedded in the EPN website.
environmentalpaper.org/tools-and-resources/mapping-bioenergy

www.unitarian.org.uk

The Unitarians
I worked with designers This Ain’t Rock and Roll to produce a WordPress block-based site that would change the image of the Unitarian community.
www.unitarian.org.uk

ssprocess.iccaconsortium.org

ICCA Consortium Self-Strengthening Process
This multi-lingual website was built for the ICCA Consortium to provide a template of guidance for indigenous groups looking to organise and mobilise. Performance was key because internet connectivity may be an issue for some of the groups using it – Lighthouse scores it 99% for performance.
ssprocess.iccaconsortium.org

Climate Yes
A website built from the ground up for performance to help a Christian Aid led campaign to urge climate action on behalf of faith groups worldwide. I worked as lead developer with Long White Digital.
climateyes.org

Aviation Environment Federation
News and information site for the Aviation Environment Federation. I worked with their communications officer to reposition the organisation as a more publicly accessible campaigning organisation.
www.aef.org.uk

World Economics Association
I designed and built the WEA network, including the main website which features a system for maintaining membership subscriptions, a WordPress Multisite for online conferences, another for regional chapters, and online journals including Economic Thought. The latter incorporates an internal publishing system with a work-flow suitable for academic publishing.
www.worldeconomicsassociation.org

Michelson Morley
The website for my quartet.
https://michelsonmorley.com