Biography of Ryan Molloy

Bassist Ryan Molloy is a second generation Irish-American from the Bronx, New York. He began studying the bass while still a secondary school student. During his undergraduate years, he studied jazz arrangement, composition, and performance under Bobby Militello (Dave Brubeck quartet) and George Caldwell (Duke Ellington Orchestra / Count Basie Orchestra). Following graduation, he continued his studies under bassists such as Ron Carter and Petros Klampanis (Gilad Hekselmen, Jean-Michel Pilc). During this time, he began to perform as an on-call bass player at a number of clubs and venues around the greater New York City area.

In 2018, he moved to Japan in order to pursue a job offer and found himself to be an in demand bass player. Prior to the start of the pandemic, he regularly performed at jazz festivals and clubs at some of the most renowned venues in the area. While there, he also recorded an album with the pianist and composer Hanako Henty which featured a range of both traditional Japanese and contemporary instruments in a jazz setting. The album was, from start to finish, a completely DIY affair. 

With the pandemic over, he made the decision to relocate to Dublin in September 2022 in order to pursue a masters degree in applied linguistics at Trinity College Dublin, where his primary research interests are focused on the intersection between the human capacity for language and music.  In addition to these educational pursuits, he is active on the Dublin jazz scene, and has performed for both private functions and live events, including arranging traditional Mongolian songs with a nationally recognized Mongolian folk musician, playing in the summer festival circuit, and taking part in the Arts Council funded “Kind of New” series.

Currently, two albums are due for release. The first features a Mongolian string trio + double bass which exhibits a number of traditional Mongolian songs, while the second is a vocalist led jazz quarter album featuring reinterpretations from the American songbook and folk traditions. Both are due out in late 2023 and early 2024.

He is currently based in New York City