Eric Von Essen
Eric Von Essen (* June 30, 1954; † 14 August 1997) was an American bassist, cellist and composer of avant-garde jazz.
Life and work
From eating mother is originally from India Bharatanatyam dancer and professor Medha Yodh B. (1927-2007), who taught at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1976. He pulled the mid-1970s to Los Angeles to study at the same university. In 1978 he played at the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, where he met Jeff Gauthier and a long-standing collaboration began. With the brothers Alex and Nels Cline in 1979 they founded the ensemble Quartet Music, which existed until 1990. During his work with Quartet Music studied tabla playing of food in India. He was from the late 1970s, the West Coast jazz scene and worked on, inter alia, with Jimmy Rowles, Bob Brookmeyer / Alan Broadbent (Oslo, 1986) and Tom Harrell.
1989 Quartet Music received a commission to write music for a performance with the Milwaukee Symphony. Eric von Essen wrote Prayer for James Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 and orchestrated three other already existing pieces of the group for the composition order.
1992 Eric von Essen was the bassist for the Lighthouse All-Stars and joined the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach with Shorty Rogers and Bud Shank on. He also played among others with Frank Morgan, Yusef Lateef, Vinny Golia and Mike Campbell. For seven years, he led the Jazz Tap Ensemble, where he worked with Stacy Rowles. Since 1990 he has played in a trio with Cecilia Coleman. In 1993 he participated in Lou Levy with Verve album Ya know; In 1994 he accompanied together with Jimmy Rowles, the singer Jeri Brown ( A Timeless Place). The mid-1990s he moved to Sweden to teach a Konservorium. There he died of heart failure.
Posthumously appeared on Jeff Gauthier's label Cryptogramophone Records 2000 tribute album The Music of Eric von Essen, Vol 1, in which Eric von Essen compositions by artists such as Alan Broadbent, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Stacy Rowles, Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, Joel Hamilton and Gauthier were even interpreted. Gauthier edition continues with Vol II and Vol.III.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Alex Cline: The Lamp and the Star (ECM, 1987)
- Nels Cline: Angelica ( Enja, 1987)
- Art Farmer: Central Avenue Breakdown (Contemporary Records, 1989)
- Jeff Gauthier: Internal Memo ( Nine Winds, 1993)
- Lou Levy: Ya Know ( Verve, 1993)
- Jimmy Rowles: Remember When ( Mastermix, 1989) Duo