From the Kick Up CD release concert: Kick Up A Night In Tunisia The Star Spangled Banner Selections featuring Eric from Stratospheric: Bridge Over Troubled Waters Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me MacArthur Park Eric started playing trumpet at an early age. His father was a professional trumpet player, and Eric grew up hanging around gigs and going to hear many of the great players that lived in Hawaii during those years, including Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, and Chuck Findley. Eric’s father also introduced him to the music of Maynard Ferguson, buying him Live At Jimmy’s, the album that changed his life forever. The next day Eric went to the music store to buy the MF model mouthpiece, but all they had was the Bill Chase model. He bought it, not knowing who Chase was, but he would soon find out and have another trumpet hero. Eric taught himself the fundamentals by playing along with Maynard records. No one told him high notes were difficult, and by his second year he was playing high G’s. When he joined the 7th grade school band, he was told by the band director that high G’s were hard to play for a student his age, and suddenly he couldn’t play them anymore! His father stepped in, and he was quickly regained his range. Eric Joined the Buddy Rich band in December 1983. He got the call at 3am, and had to be at the gig that same morning. The band was late showing up, and Buddy was in a bad mood. Eric had 5 minutes to study the book before the show. Afterward, Buddy told him, “Just relax, kid. You’ll be fine.” Buddy’s behavior is the stuff of legend, but on the bandstand he never let an audience down, always giving his best performance every night - a lesson Eric has lived by throughout his career. After Buddy passed, Eric took over Roger Ingram’s seat with Woody Herman. He jokes that they each passed away only after he became their lead player, so when he tried to get on Maynard’s band, the Boss wouldn’t let Eric near him. In reality, the timing just never worked out. Eric instead moved to Japan, and soon established himself as one of that country’s premier trumpet players. Eric is currently one of the top call studio musicians in Japan, playing many genres of music, including classical, jazz, and rock. He is also a highly sought after clinician and international performing artist, and leads his own EMBand. The band’s book contains more than 100 charts made famous by jazz and trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson, as well as original compositions, and Eric’s powerful playing, combined with his commanding stage presence, bears a closer resemblance to the late jazz master than any other trumpet player now living. Eric’s recordings can be purchased at Kevin Seeley’s website.