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Eric Frazier
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Eric Frazier's Groups
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PHILLY JAZZ CONNECT
14 members
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CUBA JAZZ CONNECT
27 members
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NEW JERSEY JAZZ CONNECT
16 members
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BOSTON JAZZ CONNECT
32 members
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PITTSBURGH JAZZ CONNECT
35 members
Eric Frazier's Page
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Profile Information
- What is your profession?
- Musician, Songwriter, Singer, Producer, Promoter, Composer, Other Jazz professional, Writer, Journalist, Author, Poet, Listener, Educator
- What Instrument Do you Play?
- Congas, Djembe, Percussion, Vocals
- Where Are you located?
- Brooklyn, New York
- How did you find out about TGJN?
- Via email
- About Me:
- My endeavors call for sustained professional activity in several professional areas including that of : Musician, Jazz Journalist, Writer, Lecturer, Composer, Singer, Arranger,Publisher, Songwriter, Producer, Promoter,Publicist, Poet,Photographer, Recording Artist, Manufacturer
My most recent endeavor involves the business of manufacturing CDs and DVDs with state of the art packaging, artwork and barcodes. Additional services include CD reviews, and liner notes.We do short runs of 25 CDs and up as well as the large orders with the quickest turn around time in the business. We provide the lowest prices without sacrificing quality products. for information: call 718-797-2459 or email: ericconga@aol.com
I was born in Harlem, New York City and raised in Brooklyn, New York in a family of eight children. I ran track and road races for 27 years. My love of the physical culture and creative expression led me to the study of the Conga Drum, Djembe Drum and African Dance.
My recordings exemplify a world of music including Jazz, Swing, BeBop, Salsa, R&B. Calypso and Blues. My CD's were best sellers in the Old tower Record stores and now J&R Records has filled that void.
I hosted my own television talk show called “Cultural Horizons” on Queens Public Access Cable TV in 1998 and have made personal appearances on The Hambone Cable TV show (BCAT), The Camille Yarborough Manhattan Cable TV Show, along with my gifted and talented daughter Du Ewa Frazier (author of her latest book "Check The Rhyme" and CEO of Litnoire Publishing Company www.litnoirepublishing.com), The Jazzy Jazz Show (BCAT-TV), Producer’s Profile (BCAT-TV), Caribbean Soul (BCAT-TV), and BET Jazz Discovery and Bet On Jazz Cable TV shows. I was the co-host of WLIU Jazz radio 88.1 FM on BCAT Cable TV channel 57 (Time Warner) and Channel 70 (CableVision) with host Rudy Walker; and have appeared on numerous radio stations across the USA.
I've had the pleasure of performing in such historic New York venues as the famous Rainbow Room, Madison Square Garden Theater, The Iridium Jazz Club, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and The Apollo Theater as well as great Jazz venues of Chicago, New Jersey, Philadephia, PA, St. Louis, MO, Washington DC , Hartford, CT, Los Angeles, CA, San Diego, CA, Miami, Florida and numerous Universities and colleges. Some of my festival performances include the: Cape May Jazz Festival, Chicken Bone Beach Jazz Festival, Jazz Improv Festival, NYC, Brooklyn International Film Festival, Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival, International African Arts Festival, Fort Green Park Festival, Metrotech Music Festival, NYC, and numerous others.
My interest in Dance, Music, Theater and Writing are evident throughout my background. Otis Gould, former Chi-lites drummer and college friend, taught me to play Congas for bands. I learned the Djembe drum from Ibrahim, famous master teacher from The Dance Company of Senegal. I was inspired in dance by my younger brother, the gifted and talented Gary Ellis Frazier, formerly with The Alvin Ailey Dance Company. I performed with such dance groups as Katherine Dunham, Olatunji, Charles Moore, Chief Bey, The International African Ballet, Alafia Drummers and Dancers. and Varshaa Bardhan and Chandra Baneyei of The Tanusree Shankar Dance Company of India (Headed by Ananda Shankar, son of the great Ravi Shankar).
I was a solo artist for the play “Wemmins of the Dark” at the historic Henry Street Playhouse in Soho, New York City and went on tour in the New York Metropolitan area performing my own poetry for The Rennick Playright Company. I have authored books of poetry including: “Family, Friends and You,” “Thought of a black Child” and “Black Gold and You.” Additional writings include scholarly articles, Jazz Columns, publications and letters. I currently do workshops and lecture at conferences, Corporations, Colleges, Universities, High Schools and institutions of learning.
I have had the pleasure of great artists accompany me in my bands and on my recordings, such as Reggie Workman, Robin Kenyatta, Carlos Garnett, Jimmy Ziegler, Bob Cunningham, Bill Saxton, T.K. Blue, Stanley Banks, Danny Mixon and Onaje Allan Gumbs. In addition to performing with legends such as Pharaoh Sanders and Jack McDuff, my recordings have included the talents of young giants as well, such as Jeremy Pelt, Anthony Wonsey, Wayne Escofery and Maurice Brown.
Max Roach, renown as one of the most legendary Jazz Drummers in history, first heard me as a solo artist on October 25, 1998. He was inspired to get on the Mic and tell the audience to savor the moment because they were in the midst of a great conga player. I was quite humbled by his words. It took me ten years to understand his statement. He was a master and inventor of poly rhythms on the drums. That is what he was seeing on the congas. I grew up a few miles from where Max lived. His music is what I would hear most as a kid, "BeBop." That sound seeped into my soul and unconsciously appeared the moment I began playing congas.
My latest CD is entitled "The Eric Frazier Quintet Live @ Humphrey's By The Bay." I'm hoping that it adds value to all of your listening moments.
My recordings are available here; J&R Music World, Target, NYC, Burnside Distribution Retail stores. www.bdcdistribution.com, www.ericfraziermusic.com, www.cdbaby.com, www.jrrecords.com, www.itunes.com
Eric Frazier Music provides viewers and listeners with original music that is eclectic, upbeat, inspirational and empowering! You will find song lyrics that are clever and quite catchy; and conga drums that are masterfully presented. Combine the aforementioned statements and you get the formula for the success of Eric Frazier's recordings. You will find straight out Jazz, Latin Jazz, Blues, R&B, Swing, Calypso, Salsa, Bebop,Spoken Word, New Orleans swing, World Music, Shuffle Blues, and more; all within the confines of six recordings to date. See what the press has to say about Eric Frazier's music.
DISCOGRAPHY
"Count Your Blessings" released Oct. 1996
"Smile Inside Your Soul" released Aug. 2000
"The Eric Frazier Quintet Live at The Knitting Factory" released Sep. 2003
"Find Yourself (Then Find Me)" released Aug. 2004
"In Your Own Time" released June 2006
"The Eric Frazier Quintet Live at Humphrey's by The Bay" released March 2008
Appearances on Other Recordings:
‘Life of a Superstar’ by Pamela McPherson-Cornelius 2007
Eric Frazier, Composer “it’s All Love” Track 3
“A Taste of Honey” by Neil Woodard 2006
Eric Frazier, Congas Tracks 1-3, 6, 10
Bebopbraineez DVD, Children's Jazzy DVD Series, 2008 http://www.bebopbraineez.com/index.html
"Da Stuy" DVD movie written by Joseph Grant 2006 http://www.ghettoeyez.com/
I was educated at the famed “Boys High School in Brooklyn, New York. and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in three years at Southern Illinois University, (Carbondale, Illinois) in Black American Studies with minors in Economics and Sociology and Cultures and two Masters degrees and a Doctoral ABD at Columbia University Teachers College in New York City in Education Administration and policy.
- Website:
- http://www.ericfraziermusic.com
Eric Frazier's Photos
About
MEMBER NOTES
Dear Tamm E:
Just a note to tell you that it is nice to read about you!!!
You share so much great info about others and about the music, but nice to know that you are WAILIN' yourself and getting appreciation!!
Global Jazz Network is a really important way for all of us to keep hooked up and informed and to SLOWLY BUT SURELY SPREAD THE MESSAGE AND THE PHILOSOPHY of what Jazz is in its many different forms and what the styles are/is all about.
Just played for Paquito's honoring and received gold medal
John Faddis, save Brubeck, James moody and a bunch of KILLER YOUNG players and we all played and spoke about Paquito and jazz and all fine music
and Roberta Gamborini, who was excellent.
wish you had been there!
Through you, Donald Harrison hooked me up with Pittsburgh Jazz info and I feel like i am living there just reading about all the great happenings.
As Fall is here, I am back to my normal insane schedule, but wanted to write you back BEFORE The STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS goes into effect. I am my own secretary, so I am dedicated but SLOW!
And I can't fire myself as my own secretary or I might get hit with an Age Discrimination Lawsuit (in case I decided to sue myself for clerical incompetence).
As of this moment, a new documentary film is being made about me, to be released a few months after my 80th birthday, which is coming up next year Nov. 17, 2010. (12 months from now).
The film will end with the videoing of the big 80th birthday bash at Symphony Space in NYC and then have snippets of films from the past, with all kinds of fun stuff from the 50's thru today.
It will be called "David Amram: The First 80 Years"
Fortunately, I don't have to edit the hundreds of hours of footage or do new music the score, since the film maker, Larry Kraman is also the founder of Newport Classics recordings and knows all my symphonic as well as operatic, theater, film and jazz and world music work, so I am in good hands!!
The same people at Newport Classics Recordings are also making a Spoken Word series for I-Tunes, with me reading from my three books Vibrations, Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac and Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat.
And they are also recording some of my chamber music compositions and a new jazz record,
Next Spring my opera "12th Night", with libretto by Joe Papp (all words of Shakespeare), is having its eighth production and being FILMED!! Even most dead composers aren't that lucky!!!
This last five weeks I have appeared all over the country at concerts of my music, conducting and playing, doing spoken word with music, jazz, folk and world music festivals, film festivals and readings from my books.
Just the first week of October, I played Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival in Lowell Mass, then the at midnight , following my last concert there , drove all night to Lagaurda Airport to catch the early Sunday mornng flight for the annual Farm Aid Concert in St Louis, where i played with Willie Nelson's band. The next morning (Monday the 5th , I flew bck to NYC in tme for my monthly concert at Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village.
The next night (Tuesday the 6th) the memorial at Symphony Space for Frank Mccourt, and the next day Wednesday the 7th) the celebration of the new authorized biography of Thelonious Monk with members of his family and musicians I have known since I first arrived in NYC in 1955!!
The 11th i flew off to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates,( i got at least get a few hours sleep) and tried to catch up on over 200 e-mails during the 13 hour flight, before arriving there and performing a concert of global music in conjunction with the score I composed for Teri McLuhan's new documentary feature film The Frontier Ghandi.
Then back in the USA in time to do programs centered around a performance of my Saxophone concerto Ode to Lord Buckley, in Loudoun Virginia ..
Then I went off to Toronto Nov 1st for a concert and appearance at the Diaspora Film Festival .
Now i am back at home hiding out composing and writing!
I am starting my fourth book "David Amram: The First 80 Years", (the same name as the new doc film being made about me), which will be finished at the end of next year and will end, like the film, with the monstro birthday bash concert for my Big 80... 12 months from now....(Nov 17 2010) in New York.
And every day, still finding time to continue composing a new orchestral work, having been doing it while on the run, and now every minute when I can hide out at the Farm in between travels.
And performing whenever possible with my three kids, each of whom have their own bands.
So as the BIG 80 approaches twelve months from now, (2010) while I may be still shy, I am not yet the retiring type.
Most of my ever-changing my schedule info. when i can get my elderly secretary (unfortunately myself) to type it up, is posted on my web page www.davidamram.com under Upcoming Events.
And my e-mail amramdavid@aol.com is always the best way to reach me as I carry my laptop with me everywhere, and Facebook, MySpace, etc., is hard to deal with and not always reliable!
You might find it fun to access an old performance of my 1971 Rondo a la Turca on the Internet for FREE!!!
The person who is conducting the Chicago Symphony and playing the middle eastern flute (who looks like my grandson) is actually a much younger looking me in 1977, recording for a PBS network TV show about my music. Pepper Adams and Jerry Dodgion are also playing.
In 1977, most of members of the Chicago Symphony who appear on the recording of this performance had never heard, much less ever played, very much music from the Middle East, and since I write everything out on paper accurately to indicate the way it should be played, that's what they were playing, and they actually began to sound like the Radio Beirut Orchestra, and suddenly as the piece went on, they started feeling something different than they had ever felt before, as they played.
It is really fun to watch their faces as they started getting ingo the old time magical groove that Middle eastern music creates and takes you into.
During the first few minutes of the piece, you can see the musicians all playing up a storm but looking as if they were thinking that I was an alien from another planet in outer space, and had brought some extra terrestrial music with me for them to play.
And then as the piece progresses, you can see, as well as hear, that by the end of the piece, the idiom of this music got them excited enough to be actually enjoying playing it!!
And playing it really well!
That's what music, like film, novels, poetry, painting, dance, language and good HOME COOKING does for all of us.
It takes you to that place from where it comes, and makes you feel that you now have a new home in a new part of the world.
I send cheers from that endless road and wish you joy and energy for all you do
David
I was just saying that you knocked this out of the park with TGJN. We have needed something like this for so long and I am telling my friends about this. I said that it is sort of like a myspace for jazz but it is actually so much more. This is real. The people here truly love jazz and we know people like that are not your average people.
I have felt for a long time that straight-ahead jazz has been slipping away from us. I have hope now that there will be a resurgence (or shall I say an insurgency:-) to bring this baby back full force!
You just knocked it out of the park. Thanks again.
xoxo,
Janie
Events
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Mel Brown Quartet
March 25, 2009 at 8pm to March 27, 2013 at 11pm – Jimmy Mak's
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Luigi Ruberti Quintet
December 4, 2009 at 9pm to December 6, 2009 at 12pm – Naples
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Betty Blue Jazz Band
December 5, 2009 from 6pm to 9:30pm – The Crystal Lounge( near Brooklyn College area)
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ROME NEAL in Concert
December 5, 2009 at 9pm to December 6, 2009 at 1am – The Nuyorican Poets Cafe
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“Grazie”
December 17, 2009 from 6pm to 9pm – Ivrea
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Saturday JAZZ Nights at Chelsea Wine Bar
December 19, 2009 at 8:30pm to December 20, 2009 at 12:30am – Chelsea Wine Bar
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Tish Oney
January 9, 2010 from 7:15pm to 7:30pm – Hilton Hotel - New York Suite
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Tish Oney
January 9, 2010 from 10pm to 10:15pm – Hilton Hotel - Beekman Suite
Birthdays
Birthdays Tomorrow
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His best-known work — the music to A Charlie Brown Christmas — is currently airing across the country once again. But as a new anthology attests, Vince Guaraldi wrote and performed a lot more music that deserves attention, too.They Might Be Giants Sings About Science
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I was in the city breifly - only had time for one gig at the Friars Club - it was intereseting to say the least. ;-)
I'll be in NY again Feb! Hope I can watch you jam. Stay in Touch!
~ Courtney
I was looking at your page and somehow thought we were friends already! I was also reading your bio and saw we have the same alma mater for our undergraduate work, SIU-C!
Hope you'll accept my friend request and best wishes to you.
Janie
HEY ERICMERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR MY BROTHER. ALL IS FINE AND SHALL BE UP IN THE NEW YEAR. I'LL HIP YOU AND MAURICE AND I SHALL HANG BIG TIME.
GOD BLESS AND MY PEACE
YOUR BROTHER
MILTON
Find more videos like this on The Global Jazz Network
STILL NOT ON MY FEET YET. TURN THE JOINT OUT LIKE I KNOW YOU WILL.
GOD BLESS
MILTON
Airborne the Musical Peacemakers of Contemporary Jazz "Winds of Change" Video www.airbornejazz.com
Hey Eric, you got some very cool stuff, thanks for sharing. Continued success.
Hope you like my art......do you have any gallery connections in the BIG APPLE? HOOK A BROTHER UP.
letsgivepeaceachance?
gggrroooowlbitesnapbitesnapsnapwwrroof!
Luther'GIVEMEPEACE'Thomas aka
FUNKYDONKEY/SAXMACHINE/SAXCROBATICFANATIC
http://www.lutherthomas.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/saxcrobaticfanatic
http://www.ayler.com
http://www.veoh.com/users/saxmachine06
"">http://www.myspace.com/lutherthomas
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