Honey Ear Trio

Honey Ear Trio is the new incarnation of long time musical cohorts Erik Lawrence, Rene Hart and Allison Miller.  Together, these three passionate musicians approach the music with a sense of playfulness and elasticity.  Honey Ear Trio creatively fuses the sound of a traditional saxophone trio with modern electronics derived from Hart's manipulation of his acoustic bass sound.  They also explore mixing multiple genres (jazz, rock, soul, folk) while bending, stretching, and decompressing the rhythmic and harmonic characteristics of the music.      Erik, Rene and Allison have performed as a core group in larger ensembles with Steven Bernstein, David Amram, John Medeski and the poet Robert Pinsky. Their sidemen experience includes work with Sonny Sharrock, Levon Helm, Marty Ehrlich, Don Braden, James Hunter, Allen Toussaint, Ani DiFranco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Martin Medeski and Wood, Bilal, Bob Dylan, Brandi Carlile, Branford Marsalis, Trey Anastasio and Anat Fort. The debut Honey Ear Trio recording, Steampunk Serenade will be released March of 2011.

 In addition to leading his own groups Erik Lawrence has been a sideman with greats from Allen Toussaint to Sonny Sharrock. Erik is currently a member of Levon Helm's band, with whom he was recently featured on the Grammy winning album Electric Dirt. He has performed Solo improvised saxophone at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. Erik has been featured at music festivals around the world and has performed with Chico Hamilton, Medeski Martin & Wood, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, Buddy Miles, David Bromberg, Bruce Hornsby and many, many others. Erik's teaching includes Williams College, Dartmouth College and Montclair State University. He has been playing the saxophone since he was 5 years old.