Eric Byrd - Jazz Virtuoso and Educator: Crafting a Lifelong Passion for Music
Jun 29, 2024
Alimond Studio
Ever wondered what it's like to navigate a lifelong journey through the world of jazz music? Sit back and listen as Eric Byrd, the creative mind behind the Sunday Jazz Workshops and Summer Jazz Camp, shares his inspiring story. Influenced by his father's love for jazz, Eric's passion was ignited through vinyl records and a transformative college encounter with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue." Despite initial skepticism from his parents, Eric pursued his calling, earning advanced degrees and honing his skills in church music and beyond.
Eric's extensive performance experiences in the Virginia, DC, and Maryland areas, as well as his time with the Jazz Ambassadorship program, highlight the highs and lows of a jazz career. One of his most vivid memories includes touring South America during the 9/11 attacks, culminating in emotionally charged renditions of "God Bless America" with South American audiences. Eric also delves into the significance of teaching and mentorship, sharing insights from his roles at Gettysburg College and Shenandoah University, and the fulfillment of nurturing young, talented musicians.
As we wrap up our conversation, we discuss the importance of building a sustainable career in jazz, underscoring the need for community support and access to quality resources. Eric's journey is a powerful reminder of the resilience required to pursue one's passion and the invaluable support of a dedicated community. Whether you're an aspiring musician or a jazz aficionado, Eric's experiences provide inspiration and practical wisdom on the intricate dance between passion, perseverance, and the pursuit of excellence in the world of jazz.
Ever wondered what it's like to navigate a lifelong journey through the world of jazz music? Sit back and listen as Eric Byrd, the creative mind behind the Sunday Jazz Workshops and Summer Jazz Camp, shares his inspiring story. Influenced by his father's love for jazz, Eric's passion was ignited through vinyl records and a transformative college encounter with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue." Despite initial skepticism from his parents, Eric pursued his calling, earning advanced degrees and honing his skills in church music and beyond.
Eric's extensive performance experiences in the Virginia, DC, and Maryland areas, as well as his time with the Jazz Ambassadorship program, highlight the highs and lows of a jazz career. One of his most vivid memories includes touring South America during the 9/11 attacks, culminating in emotionally charged renditions of "God Bless America" with South American audiences. Eric also delves into the significance of teaching and mentorship, sharing insights from his roles at Gettysburg College and Shenandoah University, and the fulfillment of nurturing young, talented musicians.
As we wrap up our conversation, we discuss the importance of building a sustainable career in jazz, underscoring the need for community support and access to quality resources. Eric's journey is a powerful reminder of the resilience required to pursue one's passion and the invaluable support of a dedicated community. Whether you're an aspiring musician or a jazz aficionado, Eric's experiences provide inspiration and practical wisdom on the intricate dance between passion, perseverance, and the pursuit of excellence in the world of jazz.
Speaker 1:
I'm Eric Bird and my business would be the Sunday Jazz Workshops and our Summer Jazz Camp, and I serve my clients or students, however you want to phrase that by equipping them with the skills and techniques and tools necessary to be able to play jazz music at high levels.
Speaker 2:
Oh, wow, that's interesting. How did you get into jazz?
Speaker 1:
Tell me a little bit about your backstory, if you've always loved music sure, um, I don't know other than I don't know other than my dad was a a huge jazz fan. God rest his soul. So he, his thing was he would come home from work and he wouldn't watch television, he would put on records.
Speaker 2:
I'm old enough yeah, remember, we love vinyl really, okay night, oh, that's great yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I restarted my vinyl collection now because that was my dad's thing. He would come home from work and then he would put on records and he listened to jazz more than anything else. So I think I just grew up in a household with parents that had really good taste in music, which I was very fortunate with, and then so that's where the kind of jazz thing was born.
Speaker 2:
I think who were some of their favorite artists.
Speaker 1:
He really liked Sarah Vaughan, who I ended up of course loving, and he really liked Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He was a big band guy. So he liked kind of the big band guy A little bit of Benny Goodman. Coleman Hawkins was a big one for him tenor saxophonist but for me what really really really hooked me was when I went to college and I heard Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, that record Kind of Blue. They had Miles Davis on trumpet and Train on tenor and Cannonball on alto Bill Evans. When I heard that record I went I don't know what they're doing, but I want to do that.
Speaker 2:
I want to do that, like I don't know what that is but that's what I want to do, but that spoke to you.
Speaker 1:
Yes, I, yeah. It just turned my whole life around at 18, 19, whatever that was.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
And so that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:
So when college, did you pursue music in college, or was that something kind of that came later?
Speaker 1:
So that's what? So then that's when I kind of pursued music in college. It was funny because my father, while he was a great fan of music and jazz, kept saying well, you can't make a living being an artist Like you have to do something responsible. Yes, good parenting advice that's right, but you know I'm a parent now too, so it's like you know you have to do something responsible, because I think my dad's overarching goal was that I could not move back home. He enjoyed having the bedroom for his clothing.
Speaker 2:
Oh right, so he was like you can't come back here, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So you have to find something to do. But I think you know, when you're passionate about something and it's in your heart and you love it, it just calls you. And so I always tell people I didn't really pick music, music picked me, like I just I just loved it from the time. I mean even when I was playing classical music or I was playing, you know, I listened to the regular stuff that kids listen to. You know stuff on the radio and I grew up in the eighties, which I think was a great decade of music, with Prince and Madonna and Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. So I listened to all that stuff and I just loved music. So it just called me and I just had to answer I couldn't run away from it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so after college, where did you go from there?
Speaker 1:
So from college I did a couple of grad school programs. So shout out to Morgan State University, HBCU in Baltimore. So I got a master's in music from there. I also, a little bit later, got a master's degree in leadership studies from Lancaster Bible College, because I was getting jobs to work at churches and some of them were very large. And so I got a leadership degree from Lancaster Bible, which is a great experience. I'm still doing church music. I'm at a church now in Frederick Restoration Church in Frederick, Maryland.
Speaker 1:
But after that that turned into me playing around the Virginia, DC, Maryland area and kind of freelancing with other musicians. And then that turned into me putting a group together so that we could apply for what was then called the Jazz Ambassadorship. And so the United States State Department and the Kennedy Center had a thing called the Jazz Ambassadorship where they would you apply for it and then they pay bands to go overseas to play music all over the world. And in fact I'm probably the only person you or your viewers might know that we were in South America during 9-11. So we had to get on an American Airlines flight on September 12th.
Speaker 2:
What was that like?
Speaker 1:
That was surreal.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it was surreal because you know I don't. Yeah, that was before cell phones, that's how old I am, so it's before cell phones. So you were trying to call home and cell towers were down. Yeah, and you know, you're trying to call your wife and make sure that everybody that you know is safe and everything. So it was scary. Nobody knew what was happening and there wasn't even really social media. That's right Then. So you're just turning into the news to figure it out. And the scary part was you didn't know where there was another wave of attacks coming.
Speaker 1:
So that was the other thing where we were going. Oh wow, we're four days into the tour. We're in Columbia we're supposed to go to I think the next country was Bolivia, I think was the next country. And you know, are we going to Bolivia or are they going to send us home? And so the state department told us you know, it's probably safer for you guys to just stay down there and just continue to tour. And one of the lasting memories that I have of that tour is we ended every concert with the South American people singing God Bless America. In English they would sing that to us, which is incredibly moving and, you know, thoughtful and empathetic, all that stuff. So then, once we came back from that six-week tour, then we were off to the races, then we were playing concerts and gigs, and we've been doing that ever since, and the band is almost 25 years old now.
Speaker 2:
Wow, and you guys have all stayed together Pretty much, pretty much, we've all pretty much stayed together.
Speaker 1:
We've all pretty much. You know, we do have, you know, occasional opportunities to play with other musicians, but Eric Bird has always been the Eric Bird trio. Yeah, and the drummer, who's Al Young, who's a Leesburg resident yes, I'm going to go throw a rock through his window.
Speaker 2:
I was going to say he won't meet you for lunch today.
Speaker 1:
He won't meet me. I was trying to get him to take me over here to get the whiskey flight thing, but shout out to Al Young. Al is great. Al is the best drummer in the world and he should be actually doing his own thing. He's going to blow up even as we speak. He's got endorsement deals coming and teaching opportunities coming. I mean, he's in demand to do clinics. He's a magician behind the drums. He's really really special.
Speaker 2:
So you're on the keyboard, I'm on the keyboard, he's on the drums, yeah, and he's the third.
Speaker 1:
For a long time. We had with us Mr Bhagwan Khalsa, who is our friend and our brother, and then just recently we're going to be working with another bass player for the foreseeable future, but Bhagwan laid the groundwork for all of the stuff that we've accomplished. So all of the records and all of the tours and all of the shows that we played, all of the important milestones in the band tours and all of the shows that we played, all of the important milestones in the band. Bhagwan's been that 33 and a third for the band and you know much respect to him, much love to him, and he's pursuing some other opportunities right now, but you know much love to him yeah Well, sometimes it's just you know you have to make a life change.
Speaker 2:
Sure, sure, you know life life.
Speaker 1:
You know, I try to be a person of faith, and the Bible always talks about seasons and there's seasons for everything. And just because one season turns you know winter turns to spring that doesn't mean that winter was bad and the spring is better or it's going to be more valuable, or what. It just means that sometimes the seasons change and so we just find ourselves in a season right now where we have an opportunity to do something new, and so you know we're going to pursue that and you know B's going to pursue his things, and I'm proud to say that, you know I still love him.
Speaker 2:
Still love him. That's great.
Speaker 1:
He's been the brother I never had. He and Al have been the brothers that I never had. I have a sister. I never had brothers before. I had Al and Bea. How lucky are you to be able to find them and call them brothers.
Speaker 2:
Very blessed so you guys have been touring all over the place. Tell me a little bit about where the teaching comes in.
Speaker 1:
So I taught for a long time at different colleges and universities, and always in the music department, usually in their jazz department.
Speaker 1:
And so what happens is and I think most people would kind of say this when you're teaching it really forces you to break down, not only how you play but why you play, what you play and how do you articulate what you play. So the teaching thing really forced me to go inward and say, ok, you know, I've always been a pretty good player, but why and what techniques work well and what improvisational things can I articulate to other students, adult and young people and that kind of thing. And then also, especially with Alfonso and I, because Al and I are on the faculty at the same time of not one but two colleges. Al and I are on the faculty at Gettysburg College and we're on the faculty at Shenandoah University in the conservatory in Winchester, and so these kids are better than us Now. These kids are coming in like playing at incredibly high levels. And so I'm starting. Better than us, now, these kids are coming in like playing at incredibly high levels yeah.
Speaker 1:
And so I'm starting to think man, I really have to step my teaching game up to be able to what's a good word other than educate? Because that would be too on the nose.
Speaker 2:
I'm trying to be fancy.
Speaker 1:
Let's see what's a good word To be able to edify their education. That's a good word, yeah that's a great word.
Speaker 2:
Okay, their education, that's a good word. Yeah, that's a great word. Can you use that today? I can use that, yeah, to edify their education.
Speaker 1:
So Al and I bring a lot of, you know, real-world experience, because we're playing on the weekends, but we also bring that into the studio, and so the teaching thing kind of came up where I was like, wow, here's an opportunity where I'm around a lot of young people, maybe they would benefit from. You know my years of experience. You know we've been playing together as a band almost 25 years. I've been playing gigs ever since college and I'm an old man now. So you know it's. You know why not pass that on? I mean, one of the great things about jazz music is that there's this great mentorship that always happens.
Speaker 1:
So Miles Davis passed on his knowledge to piano players like Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, and then Chick passed that on to other musicians and then those musicians passed that on to somebody else, and so we have the same opportunity to be able to pass that on to other people, and so I really got excited by the idea of mentoring as I got older. Al who, by the way I just want to put on tape, I want to put on blast is not meeting me for lunch today.
Speaker 2:
Not. We talked about this before.
Speaker 1:
There's so many great places up and down the street where you can get something.
Speaker 2:
I said I think you need to go anyway and just send him a selfie. Oh, I'm going to go by myself and then say this is what you're going to, take out it to Al and be like look how much fun we're having.
Speaker 1:
That's right While he's like cutting his lawn or whatever he's doing today, picking up his dry cleaning, that's right Putting up the dry cleaning or going to the bank, because he still goes to the bank. Yes, you know, he's an old school guy, but you know it're old. We're old now, like we're old.
Speaker 2:
And I thought about that. You're only as old as you feel.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, but you know, but we're old. But the point is is that he was saying yeah, but like, what are we giving back?
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 1:
Like, what are we doing? Like, are we answering the question to yeah, we played a lot of gigs. Yeah, we've made a lot of gigs. Yeah, yeah, we've made a lot of recordings? Yeah, we've, and that's great, and it's great to be able to play. But like, but what are you leaving behind? Right, like, wouldn't it be greater if we left something behind for young musicians to be able to carry on this great music? And I really started to think about that and I was like, yeah, he's right, like we should really start thinking about. And that's, you know, some of the stuff I wanted to talk about today.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and mentoring other people is huge.
Speaker 1:
Yes, because people did that for us.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I've noticed a lot of artists like Elton John doing collaborations with younger artists.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and I love it. Yeah, I love the Dua Lipa thing that you do. Yeah. And like it's just, or McCartney does that a lot. Yeah, like, let's bring some of what wisdom and knowledge we've learned in all these years in the industry and kind of give it to that younger generation. Yeah, there's a great value in just sharing what you know and of course that's universal to any industry, any genre, any creativity or any, whatever it's like. Pass it on.
Speaker 2:
Pass it on. What does music mean to you?
Speaker 1:
Music is life. You know, again, I try to be a person of faith and, um, uh, you know, I think it's the book of James, I think, uh, that says something like every good and perfect gift comes from God. I think music is good and it's perfect, and I think music is one of those things that is universal and it cuts through socioeconomic barriers and political discourse and, you know, we cannot agree on anything and we can like the same song.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you know what I mean. It's a commonality.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's just, and everybody wants to be a musician. Everybody thinks they can sing. Oh, not me, oh no you can probably, but everybody probably, you can probably sing?
Speaker 2:
No, not at all Okay.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're going to test that out right here on the program no, no no. We're not going to get to a piano and then play happy birthday and figure that out.
Speaker 2:
No, you can't sing, no, just not something God gave me. Okay, lots of other things I don't.
Speaker 1:
I don't know if I believe you, but for the sake of argument, I don't think the people want to see us beef right here on video.
Speaker 1:
But okay, I'll just take that as a but. I mean, music is just universal, it's just a great thing. The other thing that's really been kind of gnawing at me I guess for lack of a better phrase lately, is that I have this thing about jazz music, and I know a lot of people don't listen to jazz. It's not as popular as hip-hop or country or whatever, but it's like jazz music was invented right here in America, like the blues, folk music. It's American music.
Speaker 2:
We should have more.
Speaker 1:
Americans knowing how to improvise. I mean, it's interesting to me that you can get a degree in classical repertoire, and classical music wasn't born here. Classical music is European. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:
I never thought about it like that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I never thought about that as deeply as I do now until I heard Wynton Marsalis, the great trumpeter, give a speech on this. I think it was somewhere in Europe, but I saw it on YouTube and I was like, yeah, he's right, like we should have American students be able to interact with the blues and jazz and folk music and country music and that guy, because that's ours and it's exported to the world and so that's, you know something that you know. So that means a lot to me. It means a lot to be able to play music in that lineage of all the great musicians that came before me and all the great American musicians that came before me, all that stuff. So music is like I've always been one. I took my first piano lesson when I was seven, so I don't really remember it's always kind of been in your blood.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I don't remember not yeah, I don't really remember not being a musician, I didn't always think that I was going to make a living at it or that I was going to be able to make a living at it, but I just I never doubted that this is what you were meant to do? No, not really. Yeah, not really. I doubted and you know you still have to answer. How do you stay relevant?
Speaker 2:
You know, have to answer. How do you stay relevant? You know, how do you?
Speaker 1:
stay, especially playing jazz, yes, like an evolving thing, right, especially when you're playing jazz which is not super lucrative and not super popular in the, you know, in the zeitgeist of musical offerings, you know it's not super common to turn on television or to turn on some streaming platform as a jazz musician Not usually you get, you know, pop music stuff, but I you know, but we've been able to, I slash, we have been able to stay relevant, stay recording, and a lot of that comes from just interacting with young people and teaching and diversifying what you do and also having a good time doing it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I was actually just going to ask you about your teaching and some of the summer camps you have coming up. Talk to me about that.
Speaker 1:
So let's see. So a year ago yeah, I think it was a year ago we came up with I had all these opportunities just kind of come my way. I was asked to be a guest conductor for an all-county jazz band. I was asked to go into a lot of different high schools and talk about basic improvisational techniques and I thought to myself, well, if I'm going to leverage that to start what I eventually started, this would be a good time because I'm working with the population and demographic that I can take advantage of. So last year we did our very first summer camp. As we're taping this summertime, so it's really relevant. Right now it's our second year of doing our summer camp and our summer jazz camp takes students from middle school through college and during the day we do a lot of funny. I'm smiling because I call it the woodshed Jazz musicians have a lot of crazy terminology yes.
Speaker 1:
Like gig and woodshed and hip and cats. If you're if you're a good musician, they call you a cat yeah I don't know what cool cat cool cats. Yes, yes, yeah, yes so like I was having a conversation with a guitar player friend of mine and he said, he said, hey, man, get on the keyboard and get rid of that guy who's playing keys right now.
Speaker 2:
He thinks he's a cat you know, and like if you were to be yeah, it's just the terminology.
Speaker 1:
So we started a jazz summer camp and so we were hoping for 20 students, and last year we had 41. This year we have 37. So we've almost doubled what our expectations were, and that's great. And this year we're doing two different weeks and so we just one, and we're about to go into our second week, which is great because we have trombone players and a violinist and two piano players and four drummers like and a partridge and a pear tree and two turtle doves and a I don't remember how the song is.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, we need an oboe player and a and lords of.
Speaker 2:
So we're going to play the triangle. Yeah, maybe player in a yeah and lord someone play the triangle.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, maybe you could do that. I can handle that, maybe you could do that, maybe you could do the percussion side of things. But yeah, but we have. So we're doing a summer camp and that's been great, and then, uh, as with anything, you know, my kids are athletically active. They're involved in all kind their sport is basketball. One thing I noticed with them my wife and I are like my God, we have to get into the car again and drive somebody again to another practice or game again.
Speaker 2:
Again.
Speaker 1:
But what I'm noticing is that, wow, they're turning into decent players. I don don't know whether they have like a God-given gifting for basketball that's not for me to say but my point, just simply by bringing them up, is that they are constantly basketball active, so they're better than most because they're constantly doing it.
Speaker 2:
And they're constantly practicing.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes. And so when we did the summer camp, going into it last year, I thought, well, we'll do a summer camp and that's it. Then I thought, well, what if I offered something during the school year, not just during jazz band season, which for a lot of high schools is just in the spring, but what if I offered something where that they could come to a place where we could learn and play jazz all the school year round? And so that's what we started last year. We started the Sunday Jazz Combos, and so we take same demographic of kids, of students, and we put them into a group of people with similar skill set.
Speaker 1:
So no one's overwhelmed, no one is. Oh, my goodness, I don't. And I sort of teach them something for the first 10, 15, 20 minutes, and then the rest of the time, rest of the 75 minutes, we just play, we just play through jazz rep, and I stop them and I, you know, tell them we should maybe try this. Or, when you're soloing, think about this. Or, you know, here's a scale that you can use here, here's a baseline that you know that might work.
Speaker 1:
So you're kind of guiding them through Guiding them through, and then we play gigs all over Frederick County, all over Washington County, hopefully, you know, here in Leesburg, you know when we get up and running. So we, you know, we get the kids real world experience. I don't think there's anything that is a better substitute than playing.
Speaker 2:
You have to actually play. You just have to do it and keep at it.
Speaker 1:
That's right, you have to do it, I mean.
Speaker 2:
As we kind of wrap up here are there any last parting words you'd like to leave us with, With business advice, maybe a mantra that you live your life by something about music Ooh.
Speaker 1:
Business advice, Ooh yeah.
Speaker 2:
Or teaching advice.
Speaker 1:
Well, how about I give you one of each? Okay, would that be okay? Yeah, here will be another 75 minutes of content that you can edit down. Business advice, I would say. Usually your idea is original, but the execution doesn't have to be Meaning that it might be unique for you to start a donut shop, but somebody's already started a donut shop.
Speaker 1:
So what did they do? Find that person, what worked for them, what business practices can you adopt? What makes sense for your brand and what? Yeah, what that may work for them, but I don't think that'll work for me. So I, my thing is very unique.
Speaker 1:
I don't know very, very many places that have a jazz workshop or something like that, but I know music schools and I know after school programs and I know athletic programs and you know stuff like that. So you know, try to be as professional and best practices as you can. Formalize your payment schedule. Don't have people say oh well, you can just write me a check and leave it at the door. That doesn't seem very. That doesn't imbue confidence. Have a platform where people can securely pay. Have a decent web page. Have good pictures, be able to have and articulate objectives. Have a good time, have a plan, have a short-term and a long-range plan.
Speaker 1:
And then the other thing I would say music advice is that you don't have to be like other people. You don't have to be like other people. You don't have to be like other people, like when I was 20 something, I wanted a career. I didn't want to play gigs, like I wanted a career and there's nothing wrong with just playing gigs. There's nothing wrong with just playing, you know, for people, but I didn't want to record a record, I wanted to record 10. I didn't want to just play for 50 bucks until 3 o'clock in the morning. I want to play concerts, yeah.
Speaker 2:
You wanted the next step.
Speaker 1:
Yes, when I look at the jazz world and it's very easy to say, oh, but you can't make money playing jazz or well, well, that doesn't move units or that doesn't have downloads, like you know, somebody else does, or something like that. I wanted to be tony bennett. Tony bennett played concerts and everybody that came to see tony bennett they weren't watching the backup dancers or they weren't talking about like who he was. They sat and they listened to and play standards and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to play music that people sat and they go, wow, you know, that drummer is freaking amazing. You know, wow, that piano player actually knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2:
And just sit and take it in.
Speaker 1:
Yes, Be still and just kind of absorb. So I wanted to have a career, not just a gig. And you know you have a unique idea and your business is unique. But the path to be successful doesn't have to be unique. That's great advice I love it Is that cool, is that being hip? It was cool.
Speaker 2:
It was a cool cat.
Speaker 1:
Was that?
Speaker 2:
hip. Yeah Well, thank you so much for coming in today.
Speaker 1:
You're very kind.
Speaker 2:
Thank you I loved hearing your story, thank you.
Speaker 1:
This is great what you have going here. I checked you guys out. It's like top notch stuff. We try no this is really really great, and to have it available local community, this is great Like this is really really great.
Speaker 2:
Tell your friends come and see it, I am, I am. I'm telling people, yes, yeah, well, thank you again, eric, thank you.