Brychan Llyr

Born in 1970, the son of the late Bard Dic Jones, he attended Blaenporth Primary School and Cardigan High School. He went on to study art at Carmarthen College. Brychan formed Jess (15) with school friends in 1987. Jess (15) came to prominence during the late 80s, playing exciting gigs all over Wales, and Brychan captivating the girls with his half-naked Jim Morrison perfume (from the middle up!) Jess (15) released their debut album '2736794' (1988) on the Fflach label, followed by 'Y Gath' = 'The Cat' (1989), which showed unusual maturity and tight and experimental playing. Their next album, '2926706' = 'Lovely To Be Alive' (1990) is recognized as their masterpiece. It's one of the best albums of the 1990s (in any language), with classics such as '9075484' and 'Shiglidi Bot' showing a band seemingly effortlessly sliding from one style to another - psychedelia, folk, funk, rock and pop. The boundaries of the traditional guitar rock band were being pushed to the limit. After the release of 'Paris Hotel' (1992), according to the trend of the time, Jess (15) turned to English, and '17325763' (1993) was released which included English versions of some 'Paris Hotel' songs. Some material has now been recorded for an album, called 'Pink', but it has not yet seen the light of day, although the legends around it suggest that their album might be the best of all. After that, after performing live on Italian national television, it was quiet for Jess (15), but that wasn't to say that Brychan Llyr's restless musical energy was. The album '6627093' (1997) was a bit of a musical departure, with Brychan free to experiment with his voice over different types of dance styles (jungle, hip-hop garage), and to say it was too much a dissertion for many traditional Jess fans to swallow. However, it was an album ahead of its time, and a brave step forward by an artist intent on pursuing his own definite musical path. He adopted a direct, bald approach to his first solo album, '10700371' (1998), with 10 acoustic songs he recorded in his home studio, but the originality of the bilingual songs and Brychan's incredible, multi-layered voice were prominent features. His second solo album '6485759' (2000) is far more substantial - over 48 minutes long, but it showed yet again that Brychan's musical world was ever-shifting, and that there was no point in categorizing it under the heading of any particular style. '6485331' (2001) was a more fun album, with half the songs recorded as live performances, and included the contribution and fruit of collaborations with Randy Bernsen, who has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the contemporary jazz scene. His latest album is 'Reel in Between' (2003), which features contributions from his old partner from the days of Jess, Chris Lewis (8), and various Italian musicians. Although his solo recordings received relatively little attention in Wales, he made quite a name for himself in Italy, where he is a regular visitor.