Five years of nearly constant touring and three albums later (Eric Essix and Modern Man, LIVE! and two more on Ben Tankard’s , Spirit Jazz Label ; Just Like You and Beautiful Music: Guitar), Eric got the break that had eluded him for more than a decade. He was signed by legendary Warner Brothers Vice President Ricky Schultz who formed the careers of artists like Pat Metheny, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn, Larry Carlton, Fourplay, Boney James, Joshua Redman and the Yellowjackets. Ricky liked the guitarist’s latest self produced CD, Small Talk and released it on his new Warner distributed indie label, Zebra Records.
Soon after, Eric had his his first taste of real success on a national playing field with the single, For Real which maintained a steady chart presence all the way up to the top five for more than 25 weeks establishing him as a solid artist in the heyday of the very popular “smooth jazz” genre. The second release on Zebra, Southbound, saw Eric making a shift towards the southern roots music he grew up playing and listening to living in his native Alabama. He also recorded 6 cover songs – something he had never done before – and the album’s instrumental interpretation of the classic, soul ballad, Rainy Night In Georgia became Eric’s next big hit also enjoying an extended run on the charts.
Eric left Zebra in 2002 to restart his own indie label with a new name; Essential Recordings, and in April 2004, he celebrated his first release on the label (distributed nationally by Selectohits), Somewhere In Alabama, which continued his exploration of southern themes. The single, Sweet Tea, spent some time on the charts and Eric continued to tour and maintain a presence in the industry. Everything came to a screeching halt, however, when in October of that same year, he lost his Mother, Imogene Essix, to heart failure.
Music and his faith were the only things that would help him navigate through this darkest period of his life and 6 months later he emerged from the studio with a moving musical tribute to her of spirituals and hymns called, Abide With Me. Eric released a handful of side projects and compilations after that on the Essential Records label (Blue, The Modern Man Recordings double CD set; Retrospective: Volume One; a CD by longtime friend and vocalist Cece Phillips called Long Time Coming on which he played and produced and an unlikely record fronting an 18 piece big band called Eric Essix featuring the Night Flight Band: Superblue). For the first time in his career, Eric began to explore the role of sideman and this led to a string of tour dates and performances with some of the biggest names in the contemporary jazz world such as Jeff Lorber, Gerald Albright, Ronnie Laws, Phil Perry, Boney James, Everret Harp, Peabo Bryson, Chuck Loeb, Marcus Miller, Eric Darius, Alex Bugnon, Marcus Johnson, Rick Braun, Peter White, Mindi Abair and others. His travels increased dramatically and Eric began to tour many countries abroad teaching, performing and talking about music in Hungary, Israel, Ukraine, India and the Caribbean.
One of Eric’s longtime dreams was to bring a world class jazz festival to his hometown and in 2007 he founded the Preserve Jazz Festival. The event became an instant hit and now, in its 6th season, draws attendees from all over the nation and A-list jazz artists (many of those mentioned above) to the beautiful Preserve community in Hoover, AL for an incredible day of food, fellowship and great music in a one of a kind outdoor venue!
After much touring and a host of side recording projects for other artists, in 2009, Eric decided it was time to take a shot at another national release and began working on what he later decided would be the last of a trilogy of recordings about his beloved southland. That record brought him full circle and closer to home than ever before. It was called Birmingham and his song Shuttlesworth Drive from the album, a musical tribute to the great civil rights pioneer, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, became his biggest radio hit ever as an independent smooth jazz artist spending 7 consecutive weeks at #1, and over 20 weeks in the top 10! When the courageous leader, passed away in 2011, Eric was honored by his wife’s request for him to play at the funeral where he performed a moving rendition of the spiritual, “Precious Lord” from his Abide With Me album.
2010 saw Eric headed in a direction he never saw coming when he was offered and accepted a position as Artist Coordinator and Programming Consultant at the University of Alabama Birmingham’s prestigious Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. It was a great opportunity to expand on his skills as a businessman in the music industry and led to organizing shows with his staff at the Center for artists like Al Pacino and Liza Minelli; to Pat Metheny, Ricky Skaggs and Wynton Marsalis.
That same year, Eric completed his first ever Christmas album of traditional selections performed mostly with just him on guitar, and in 2011 he released Volume 2 of his Retrospective series consisting of all Ballads from his catalog. Now Essential Recordings presents the new self titled release by Eric Essix, his first set of brand new music and arrangements following the success of 2009's "Birmingham"!
It's a new sound and a new direction for this southern styled guitarist whose soulful licks and phrasings are drenched in gospel and blues, but tinged with a generous portion of rock and neck bobbing funk. On this outing, those core characteristics of his sound remain, but compositionally he has broadened his horizons and embraced some country and folk music textures that happen to blend nicely with his southern sensibility and laid back approach. It is a natural progression for him as a writer after songs like Brother Bryan, Miles Away, Big Valley and his very “churchy” rendition of the civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome from the Birmingham album. The record definitely seems to further define his identity for his listeners and even for himself.
“I have never personally considered myself to be a jazz artist in the truest sense of the word as it relates to the tradition of the music. But, I think because my music is predominately instrumental, I have been labeled a jazz guitarist; which is fine…I get it. However, I also understand that jazz requires a certain amount of study and discipline and, for guitarists, there is a very distinct vocabulary and sound that I have not put in the time to master like so many of my contemporaries -Russell Malone, Mark Whitfield and others. From my first album to this newest one, the voice that has been the most expressive for me on the guitar has always had an edgy, overdriven crunchiness which is the sound I love more than any other. I have not used that voice as much as I would have liked over the past several years in the studio and it’s exciting to explore it a bit more on this new project.”
Eric does not waste any time going there on the album’s opener, his cover of the Tom Petty hit, Free Fallin which ends with wailing Strat tones soaring over a bubbly organ pad and soaring background vocals. Except for the angular B-3 solo on the next song by the records producer and keyboardist Kelvin Wooten, on a funky Essix composition called Gravitate, the album contains nothing but extended guitar solos with Eric taking his time to make a clear statement on all of the albums ten tracks. “I got a lot of encouragement from Kelvin to ‘just play’ and even the songs we had originally planned to fade, ended up rolling out to the very end of the track with guitar solos.” A lot of listeners who have followed Eric since his debut recording in 1988 will probably say, “It’s about time!”
As a performing artist, composer, teacher and businessman, Eric is more active and productive than ever and continues to strive for excellence in everything he is involved with. Already having produced his own self tiled new album and a project for guitarist and tenor banjo player, Tony Lombardo, Eric has already begun planning an early 2013 release tentatively entitled "4" which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Church bombing with songs of healing, reconciliation and hope . ~ ericessix.net
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