Tom Halter - trumpet; Dan Rosenthal - trumpet; Joel Yennior - trombone; Godwin Louis - alto sax, flute; Russ Gershon - tenor, soprano sax, leader; Kurtis Rivers - baritone sax, flute; Rafael Alcala - piano; Rick McLaughlin - bass; Pablo Bencid - drums; Vicente Lebron - congas, percussion
Influences
Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the Beatles, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Mulatu Astatke, Abdullah Ibrahim, Eddie Palmieri, Ruben Gonzalez, Bela Bartok, Claude Debussy, Edgar Varese...etc, etc, etc.
I started the E/O in 1985 as a weekly rehearsal band, getting together to play music that I was composing and arranging. (That's me on the left end.) With 11 musicians (now 10), I never thought this unwieldy outfit would become a working band, but one thing let to another and by now we've played over 1000 shows in 34 of the United States, Italy, Portugal, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Russia, Canada and France.
The E/O has released ten CDs, the first nine on Accurate Records (a label I started for just this purpose, but which has expanded to many other artists - http://accuraterecords.com ), and the most recent as part of the excellent Ethiopiques series: Ethiopiques 20: Live in Addis. The concert was the culmination of a fantastic two week stay in the capital of Ethiopia, playing, teaching, listening, eating, drinking – did I mention eating and drinking? – and getting to know this fascinating place.
Over the last few years, we've become quite involved in Ethiopian music, and have collaborated with Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed, Getachew Mekurya and other greats of that music, along with many lesser-known musicians and singers. Ethiopian music mixes beautifully with jazz and Latin music and has become a big part of our sound. We're honored to have been accepted by Ethiopian musicians and listeners. (As an aside, Mulatu Astatke has won a Radliffe Fellowship and will be in residence in Cambridge MA for the 2007-08 school year, so we're hoping to do more work with him while he's around.)
The E/O aesthetic has always ranged widely over many styles of music, seen through the lens of the large jazz ensemble. We've done our own versions of material by Ellington, Mingus, Monk, Sun Ra, Horace Silver and other jazz composers, plus often radical revisions of songs by the Beatles, Dylan, Robert Fripp. I started my band career in original rock bands, and have always wanted the E/O to have the cameraderie and solidarity that rock bands often have, but which is frequently missed by many bands in the jazz world of extreme individualism and free-lancing. I've been lucky to have much committment and longevity from many bands members, starting with my main man Tom Halter (trumpet), who has yet to miss a gig in 21 years (along with many other gigs we've done together, with everyone from Cab Calloway to Morphine). Other long-timers are: Rick McLaughlin (bass - 9 years), Joel Yennior (trombone - almost 9 years) and Vicente Lebron (congas - 8 years). A number of previous members had tenures of 5-10 years, and saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase was with us for 14 years. The current and former members form an extended community with connections everywhere in the music world. Our most well-know ex's are John Medeski, Matt Wilson, Mike Rivard (Club d'Elf), Miguel Zenon, Jaleel Shaw and Josh Roseman. Sometimes in Brooklyn, as many as four ex-alto saxophonists of the E/O find themselves in the same saloon: Doug Yates, Andrew d'Angelo, Oscar Noriega and Jeremy Udden, which may say as much about their propensity for drinking as anything else. I've learned something about music and life from everybody who's been in the band, and from guests like John Tchicai, Judy Kuhn, and the late Mark Sandman (of Morphine).
After 21 years, keeping a ten-piece band together doesn't get any easier – people's lives grow ever more complicated with families, jobs and other gigs – but the musical rewards and the long adventure keeps me and the band going. We are looking forward to touring in new countries in 2007 (details pending), returning to Ethiopia to play in their Millenium celebration (they're on a different calender), recording a new album of original material in June, recording an album of music by Nerses Nalbandian, an Armenian immigrant who was Ethiopia's Maestro for many years, and much more. The E/O has had many ups, downs, ins, outs and arounds since December 17, 1985, and I believe they all add depth to the sound.
We hope to be able to play for many of you in person soon!
Hi !!! thanks for adding me !! i'm really a huge fan of your live in addis !! Ive got some french bands, fan about 70's ethiopian music, and we loved your approach ! thanks for so much good music, in particular "abet abet" ! I hope you'll come in france soon, or maybe we'll meet in addis... greetins from Paris see you guys, Michael
thanks for the add - thank you for your kindness and friendship in Moers and thank you very much for your wonderful concert at the festival in Moers ! Christian
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