Biography
Eric Thomas Felten entered the world on 18 September 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona. Music surrounded him from the start, since several relatives worked professionally as jazz players, rendering a life in the field unavoidable. He chose the trombone and began lessons at nine under his grandfather, Lester Felten, whose own career had included swing-era dance-band work. After earning degrees from Arizona State University and Harvard, Felten moved to Washington, DC, in summer 1989 to begin a career in journalism while simultaneously building a parallel path as a jazz performer.
He first appeared with several local ensembles before launching his own unit early in 1991. Within the next two years the International Trombone Association designated him Best New Jazz Trombonist, and he issued his debut album on Soul Note Records. On that recording he was joined by Jimmy Knepper and Joshua Redman, the latter an acquaintance from their shared time at Harvard. Felten went on to direct the Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra in the capital, where its interpretations of classic swing-era big-band repertoire drew strong critical praise. His second album, Gratitude, extended the same historical focus by patterning its small-group format after the units drawn from Duke Ellington’s orchestra in the 1930s; among the sidemen were Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, and Bob Mintzer.
By 1998 Felten had also begun singing, appearing that year as vocalist with his big band in a one-hour program on Black Entertainment Television’s BETonJazz network. He performed both vocally and instrumentally with the Bloomington Pops Orchestra in Indiana and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Late in the decade he occasionally shared trombone duets with his grandfather, then in his nineties. Like other musicians who emerged amid the new-swing resurgence that began in the mid-1980s, Felten draws on repertoire that predates his own birth, yet he approaches the material with flair, musical depth, and evident regard for its sources.
He first appeared with several local ensembles before launching his own unit early in 1991. Within the next two years the International Trombone Association designated him Best New Jazz Trombonist, and he issued his debut album on Soul Note Records. On that recording he was joined by Jimmy Knepper and Joshua Redman, the latter an acquaintance from their shared time at Harvard. Felten went on to direct the Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra in the capital, where its interpretations of classic swing-era big-band repertoire drew strong critical praise. His second album, Gratitude, extended the same historical focus by patterning its small-group format after the units drawn from Duke Ellington’s orchestra in the 1930s; among the sidemen were Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, and Bob Mintzer.
By 1998 Felten had also begun singing, appearing that year as vocalist with his big band in a one-hour program on Black Entertainment Television’s BETonJazz network. He performed both vocally and instrumentally with the Bloomington Pops Orchestra in Indiana and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Late in the decade he occasionally shared trombone duets with his grandfather, then in his nineties. Like other musicians who emerged amid the new-swing resurgence that began in the mid-1980s, Felten draws on repertoire that predates his own birth, yet he approaches the material with flair, musical depth, and evident regard for its sources.
Albums
