Eric Marienthal
Encyclopedia
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
, smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
, and pop genres.
After graduating from high school in Southern California in 1976, he studied at the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied with the saxophone professor, Joe Viola. By the time he left Berklee, Eric 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. He has since gone on to perform in over 65 different countries, recorded 12 solo CDs and has played on hundreds of records, films, television shows and commercial jingles.
Marienthal started his professional career in 1980 with famed New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt
Al Hirt
Al Hirt was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the accompanying album, Honey in the Horn . His nicknames included 'Jumbo' and 'The Round Mound of Sound'...
. After returning to Los Angeles, Eric became a member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band is a jazz fusion band, led by pianist Chick Corea. Following the demise of Return to Forever, Corea established the musical ensemble in 1986. Following a long hiatus, the band reunited to produce "To the Stars" in 2004....
. He recorded 6 CDs with that band and 2 of those CDs were Grammy award winners.
Marienthal went on to perform with artists such as Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
, Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour
Lee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
, David Benoit, The Rippingtons
The Rippingtons
The Rippingtons are a contemporary group mainly relating to the genres Smooth jazz, Jazz pop, and Crossover jazz. Formed in 1986 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman , their career has spanned two decades...
, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, or simply The Big Phat Band, is an 18-piece jazz ensemble based in California and led by Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin composes most, and arranges all, of the group's performance pieces, as well as playing piano and occasionally tenor saxophone...
, Patti Austin
Patti Austin
-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
, The Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz quartet.-History:The original group, called The Robben Ford Group, was formed in 1977, and consisted of Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson, all top-notch L.A. session musicians...
, B.B. King, Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...
, Patti Labelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, and many others.
Six of the songs that Marienthal has recorded have made it to the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and two have made it to #1. His "Oasis" CD hit the top 5 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart. Shortly after that, he was voted one of the year's "Favorite Alto Sax Players" in Jazziz Magazine's Reader's Poll along with David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
and Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
.
Marienthal has also written 3 instructional books, "Comprehensive Jazz Studies & Exercises", "The Ultimate Jazz Play Along" and "The Music Of Eric Marienthal" as well as 3 instructional videos, "Play Sax From Day One", "Modern Sax" and "Tricks Of The Trade", all published by Warner Brothers Publications, which is now Alfred Publishing
Alfred Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is a family-owned and operated music publishing company, founded in 1922. Headquartered in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, it is the largest educational music publisher in the world.- Profile :...
/Belwin Jazz.
Every summer for the past 8 years Eric has put on an annual fundraising concert for High Hopes Head Injury Program. 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 many guest artists who have donated their time to perform, these concerts have raised well over a half million dollars for this charity.
His music can be heard during The Weather Channel's "Local on the 8s" segments and his song "Big Country" is included in their 2008 compilation release, The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II
The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II
The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II is a 2008 compilation release by Midas Records. It is the second CD from The Weather Channel which features their most requested music from the "Local on the 8s" segments...
.
Eric Marienthal currently occupies the lead alto chair of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, or simply The Big Phat Band, is an 18-piece jazz ensemble based in California and led by Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin composes most, and arranges all, of the group's performance pieces, as well as playing piano and occasionally tenor saxophone...
, playing alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, and piccolo.
Equipment
-SelmerSelmer
Selmer can refer to:People*Elisabeth Schweigaard Selmer, Norwegian judge and politician*Ernst S. Selmer, Norwegian mathematician*Ernst W. Selmer, Norwegian phoneticist*Christian August Selmer, Norwegian lawyer and statesmanOther...
Mark VI Alto Saxophone with a Beechler Metal #7 mouthpiece and 'Olegature' ligature
-Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
Custom Z Alto Saxophone with a Beechler Metal #7 mouthpiece and 'Olegature' ligature
-Selmer
Selmer
Selmer can refer to:People*Elisabeth Schweigaard Selmer, Norwegian judge and politician*Ernst S. Selmer, Norwegian mathematician*Ernst W. Selmer, Norwegian phoneticist*Christian August Selmer, Norwegian lawyer and statesmanOther...
Mark VI Tenor Saxophone with a Berg Larsen Metal 100/2 mouthpiece and Brancher ligature
-Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
YSS 62 Soprano Saxophone with a Selmer
Selmer
Selmer can refer to:People*Elisabeth Schweigaard Selmer, Norwegian judge and politician*Ernst S. Selmer, Norwegian mathematician*Ernst W. Selmer, Norwegian phoneticist*Christian August Selmer, Norwegian lawyer and statesmanOther...
Super Session #H mouthpiece and Harrison ligature
-Muramatsu Flute
Vandoren
Vandoren
Vandoren is a well known manufacturer of mouthpieces and reeds for clarinet and saxophone. Vandoren's products are used by professionals and amateurs around the world.-History:...
traditional 2.5 reeds
Discography
- Just Around the Corner, 2007 - Peak Records
- Got You Covered, 2005 - Peak Records
- Sweet Talk, 2003 - Peak Records
- Turn Up the Heat, 2001 - Peak Records
- Walk Tall: Tribute to Cannonball Adderley, 1998 - PolyGram/i.e.Music
- Easy Street 1997 - PolyGram/Verve/i.e.Music
- Street Dance, 1994 - GRP Records
- One Touch, 1993 - GRP Records
- Oasis, 1991 - GRP Records
- Crossroads, 1990 - GRP Records
- Round Trip, 1989 - GRP Records
- Voices of the Heart, 1988 - GRP Records
- Compilation Collection, 1997 - GRP Records