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Orrick Ewing
Like most teenagers he wanted to branch out and try new styles of music, so he joined up with a R&B group from Columbus, Ohio called “Crowd Pleasers” who had an R&B hit on the westbound record label “Freaky People”. This group also spawned another musician by the name of “Kenny (BabyFace) Edmonds” who at the time was the guitar player for the R&B group. As his career continued Orrick joined up with long time friend and powerhouse blues guitarist “Larry McCray” (pointblank/virgin records) and played many venues like the House of Blues, B.B kings (in Memphis & New York), and many blues and jazz festivals. While playing with Larry in Nashville, Tennessee, a representative from Gibson Musical Instruments quickly offered him his first endorsement deal through “Steinberger Basses”. They made a custom 5-string bass with a purple-sunburst finish (he’s custom color); that he still uses today, along with his mid-bass Spector 4-string with piccolo bass strings. At the request of Gibson, Orrick did a bass clinic at the NAMM show in Nashville, where he played with legendary drummer “Bernard Purdie”. He also played the Basses Loaded concert with “Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey” later that evening. Orrick was feeling that there was something missing from his life which was the love of gospel music and for his love for God. That landed him to a legendary group “Spencer Taylor & the Highway Q.C’s”. It was not to long after that, that he was approached by the legendary Joe Ligon of the “Mighty Clouds of Joy”. Orrick became the first bass player to play with the Clouds full time. Original bassist Richard Wallace held down the position for thirty-years, until it was handed over to Orrick. His success with the Clouds earned him a “Grammy Nomination” for the album “It was you”, and was also part of the group when they were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He has played many television shows, such as; “Good Morning America, David Letterman, Bobby Jones Gospel, the Stellar Awards, TBN (praise the lord), the Legends of Gospel”, just to name a few. Orrick has also performed at one of the most famous venues “The Hollywood Bowl” which he would like to go back to someday to perform.
Orrick has also played behind the likes of, Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, Smokey Robinson, and Inez Andrews, in different concerts around the country. And for the first time in his career, Orrick is a part of the movie soundtrack “Evan Almighty” on Tracy Edmond’s song “Never give up” as the bass player on the song.
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