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Eric Marienthal
When Eric was just 10 years old he
used to dream of becoming a professional musician, to make his own records and
tour around the world. When he first started playing his saxophone in 5th grade
he really had no idea what all that even meant. Well, after having performed in
over 60 different countries, recording 10 solo CD's and playing on hundreds of
other records, films, television shows and commercial jingles, Eric has
definitely exceeded those musical goals he set for himself way back then.
After graduating high school in 1976, Eric went on to study at the Berklee
College of Music in Boston, MA. There he studied with the legendary saxophone
teacher, Joe Viola. It was Joe that taught Eric how to really practice. Joe
introduced Eric to the books of Marcel Mule, Pierre Londeaux, Sigmund Rasher and
many others. Under Joe's wing, Eric practiced at least 4 hours every night.
There were also jam sessions going on all the time where the students could get
together and play for hours. Eric ended up returning to Orange County, CA after
being at Berklee for 2 years to try and pursue his career. When he left Berklee,
he had achieved the highest proficiency rating given by the school. In 1995,
Eric was awarded the Berklee Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding
achievements in contemporary music.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1980, Eric auditioned for famed New Orleans
trumpeter Al Hurt. He got the gig, moved to New Orleans and played with Al and
his band for about a year. "We would play at Al's club in the French Quarter
during the week and almost every weekend we'd travel to a different city to
play. It was my first time seeing most of the country." When the band ended Eric
returned to L.A. and began the slow climb into the world of professional music.
He played in every situation he could. A spot opened up in the Disneyland Band
and it was there that Eric met many of the studio musicians that he still works
with today.
While the Disney Band was a full time job, Eric would still play jobs at night
in a lot of the clubs around town. It was during one of these club gigs with
bandleader John Novello that Eric was about to get his first big break. While
playing at a club in North Hollywood, Eric looked up from the stage to see jazz
legend Chick Corea walk through the door. Chick had been one of Eric's very
favorite all-time musicians. "When I looked up and saw Chick walk in I thought I
must be hallucinating!" Chick was a friend of John's so Eric figured he was
there to see John's band. But unbeknownst to Eric, Chick was looking to add a
sax player to his famed Elektric Band with bassist, John Patitucci, drummer Dave
Weckl, and guitarist Frank Gambale. Not only did Chick stay for the whole night
but he sat in during the 2nd set. "We played one of Chick's standards, "500
Miles High". Thank God I knew that tune!" Eric said that his wife Lee Ann
happened to be there that night and could see the excitement in his eyes. “It
was an incredible thrill to be on stage playing with one of my all time musical
heroes." Afterwards they talked and Chick told Eric how much he liked his
playing.
The real bombshell, however, didn't hit until the next day. While Eric was
sitting in the Disneyland Band break room the phone rang. "The bass player
answered it and said it was for me. He had an odd look on his face and when I
asked who it was he said it was Chick Corea's manager. I totally froze!" Eric
finally made it to the phone and the manager told him that Chick wanted him to
join the Elektric Band.
Needless to say, Eric didn't stay in the Disney Band long after that. The
Elektric band went on to record 6 albums, won 2 Grammys and traveled to every
corner of the globe. After the Elektric Band's "Light Years" CD was released,
Eric was offered his first solo record contract with GRP records. "It was a
dream come true for me. Playing with Chick and getting signed to my own deal,
what more could I ask for." Chick produced Eric's first record, "Voices of The
Heart" and it was recorded live at Mad Hatter Studios in L.A. His next 2 CD's,
"Round Trip" and "Crossroads" were produced by Eric and his long time friend and
bass playing giant, John Patitucci. Of the two, Crossroads was a recording that
reflected where Eric's musical head was at. "John and I wanted to make a record
that people would talk about years later. We didn't think about anything except
the music. I still have people come up and tell me that Crossroads is their
favorite record of mine... mostly musicians!" It was during that time that Eric
became one of the most recorded sax players in contemporary jazz. He played on
over 50 GRP records alone including records by Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, David
Benoit, Don Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, GRP All-Star Big Band and The
Rippingtons. Eric juggled being a member of Lee Ritenour's band, David Benoit's
band, Chick's Elektric band and his own band.
In 1991, Eric decided to call upon two musicians whom he had always wanted to
work with, Jeff Lorber and Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets, to write with
and produce his "Oasis" CD. "At the time I didn't personally even know Jeff or
Russell and I was hoping that, when I called them, they wouldn't say, 'Eric
who?'" It ended up being a great collaboration and one of Eric's most successful
records. It made it into the top 5 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts and
2 of the tunes made it into the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio
Charts. Eric went on to record two more records for GRP; "One Touch" and "Street
Dance", both produced by Jeff Lorber.
It was around this time that Eric became interested in writing his first
instructional book, "Comprehensive Jazz Studies & Exercises" published by Warner
Bros. Publications which is now Alfred Publishing/Belwin Jazz. Eric spent 3
years writing this 200 page book and was inspired by Chick Corea and the members
of the Elektric band. "Each member of that band was a prolific writer. Not only
music but instructional materials as well. I always wanted to own a book that
combined a ton of things to practice and woodshed with some melodic and harmonic
things that would really help my improvising." Alfred publishing went on to
publish 2 more books written by Eric. "The Ultimate Jazz Play Along" is a "music
minus 1" book for all instruments with 12 original tunes to work on and improve
your improvising. It also comes with an audio CD to play along with. The 3rd is
called "The Music of Eric Marienthal". It's a collection of Eric's transcribed
solos from various records over the last 20 years. This book comes with a
"lesson on CD" which takes the listener through the fundamentals of playing,
practicing, improvising and much more. Eric has also filmed 3 instructional
videos, also published by Alfred Publishing; "Play Sax From Day One", "Modern
Sax" and "Tricks Of The Trade".
In 1997, Eric was signed by legendary jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour to record for
his new label, i.e. Music. Lee produced Eric's "Easy Street" CD and the title
track, which features Rick Braun on trumpet, made it to #2 on the National
Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts. That same year Eric was voted to be among the
top 3 alto sax players in the Jazziz Magazine Reader's Poll along with Phil
Woods and David Sanborn. Eric's 2nd record for i.e. Music, "Walk Tall", was a
tribute to one of his musical idols, Cannonball Adderley. "Cannonball has always
been a huge inspiration to me and I was so thankful that Lee was into letting me
make that record". Produced by Harvey Mason, the single, "Here In My Heart",
stayed at #1 on the National Contemporary Jazz Charts for 3 weeks and the
Cannonball classic, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" made it to #5.
Currently, Eric is signed to the Peak Records label, owned by Rippingtons
founder Russ Freeman. "When Russ asked me to join the Rippingtons, he also
offered me a deal with his label and I jumped at it. Playing with the Ripp's has
been incredibly fun for me and the band is awesome!” Eric's first 2 recordings
on Peak were "Turn Up The Heat" and "Sweet Talk". The later of which featured
the title track that was co-written by Eric's 14 year old son, Robert. "Rob
plays guitar and wrote this song which was originally more of a folk song. After
I put my two cents in it turned into more of a smooth jazz tune and I don't
think Rob will ever forgive me!"
Eric's newest CD is his 3rd for Peak entitled "Got You Covered". It's an amazing
collection of some of Eric's favorite tunes and was recorded live in the studio.
"Of all 10 of my records, this is my favorite. It features Russell Ferrante,
Peter Erskine, Russ Freeman, Chick Corea, Dave Carpenter and Luis Conte. Most of
the record was recorded live all together and all at the same time. It was so
refreshing to record this way and the music sounds just like we played it." The
record has a very heartfelt, mostly acoustic sound and it's one that Eric is
obviously very proud of.
For the past 7 years Eric has been the musical director of an annual fundraising
concert for High Hopes. High Hopes is a non-profit organization in Orange
County, California that works with people who have suffered traumatic head
injuries. With the help of guest artists such as Lou Rawls, Patti Austin, David
Benoit, Brian Culbertson, Rick Braun, Vesta Williams, Jeff Lorber, David Pack,
Lee Ritenour and many more, these concerts to date have raise well over a half
million dollars for this charity.
Among all the different bands that Eric has been a part of, one of his favorites
is the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band. Gordon is a very prominent, Grammy winning
composer in Los Angeles and the Big Phat Band is among the most popular Big
Bands in the world today. Eric is the band's lead alto sax player and obviously
loves being there. "This is about the only band I've ever been in that has as
much fun traveling together as we do playing together! The audiences always go
completely crazy during our shows and they know most of the music we play." The
band is made up of some of L.A.'s top studio musicians. The Phat band's 3rd
record, "The Phat Pack" was recently released in June, 2006. According to Eric,
it's the best record Gordon's ever made.
These days Eric is touring and recording continuously. Besides playing with his
own band and the others that he is a part of, Eric gives Master Classes and
performs with High School and College bands around the country. "I love being
able to work with students and help them improve. There's no better feeling than
to help a player achieve their goal.”
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