Results for "Eric Alexander"

Eric Alexander

Born: August 4, 1968

Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander

What's Love?

By Judy Niemack

Label: Sunnyside Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Feelin' It In Your Bones; Firefly; For All We Know; Catalyst; I'm Moving On; What's Love Got To Do With It; Just When I Thought; With You; Let Life Lead You; Blues That Soothe My Soul; I'll Love Again; Born To Be Blue; Right Here, Right Now.

Heavy Hitters

Label: Cellar Music Group
Released: 2023
Track listing: Hub; New Day; Silverdust; Un Dia es un Dia; Big Richard; Chainsaw; This is Something New; Cedar Land; Bluesit.

The Heavy Hitters

Label: Cellar Records
Released: 2023
Track listing: Hub; New Day; Silverdust; Una Dia es un Dia; Big Richard; Chainsaw; This Is Something New; Cedar Land; Bluesit.

The Jazz Education of Ian Shaw

by Mathew Bahl
August 22, 2023

A few notable exceptions aside, great jazz musicians are not born; they are created. Most young musicians start by absorbing the work of important influences and then, through practice and live performance, decide what to keep, what to modify and what to discard. Ultimately, originality is less a byproduct of inspiration and more the end result ...

Tim Lin: Empathy

by Jack Bowers
July 2, 2023

Saxophonist Tim Lin, still fresh enough on the scene to be described as a “young lion," tips his horn to a number of his mentors on Empathy, his second album as a leader, following 2021's Romance on Formosa. As on that earlier album, Lin, a first generation Taiwanese-American (from Fremont, CA), has chosen a charming blend ...

Ben Sher: Samba for Tarsila

by Neil Duggan
May 22, 2023

Ben Sher, an acclaimed jazz guitarist based in New York City, brings us Samba for Tarsila, in which he pays a musical tribute to the Brazilian modernist painter, Tarsila de Aguiar do Amaral (1886-1973). Her vivid abstract paintings of the Brazilian landscape have provided Sher with his inspiration for this project. To help him ...

David Hazeltine: Inversions

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 30, 2023

It's often said that those with enviable skills make the most sophisticated actions look easy. Be it glass blowing or ice-skating, what appears to be within the grasp of the novice often involves an underlying complexity not readily apparent at first. The same could be said of higher forms of music such as classical and jazz. ...

David Hazeltine: Blues Quarters, Vol.2

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 29, 2023

A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since the last time that David Hazeltine got together with Eric Alexander for the initial 1998 session billed as Blues Quarters Vol.1 (Criss 1188). As strong a showing as the pianist and his cohorts made on that initial release, I think all would agree this latest ...

Anthony Wonsey: The Thang

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 10, 2023

Wisdom, it is often said, comes with age and experience. This axiom has special relevance for those who pursue excellence in the arts. Whether painters, dancers, or composers, the true creators have found that it takes time and patience to develop a singular voice. Youth seems to bring with it a desire to put technique at ...