Eric Person

Saxophonist Eric Person entered the world in St. Louis, MO, as the offspring of Thomas Person, a musician and entrepreneur rooted in that city. Displaying prodigious talent from an early age, he first took up the saxophone at seven and secured initial orchestral experience while still in fifth grade. During his time at Normandy Junior and Senior high schools, he pursued further musical training that eventually opened doors to jazz performance. Belonging to the Norsemen, Normandy High’s premier jazz ensemble, he built a following and immersed himself across nearly every dimension of the school’s musical activities. Participation in concert and symphonic orchestras, marching bands, and classical solo appearances sustained his drive to remain engaged academically. Those same years at Normandy simultaneously nurtured an appreciation for diverse modes of musical expression. Outside school groups he performed with funk ensembles and joined the James Matthews Quartet, which appeared regularly at prominent St. Louis jazz venues including the Barbary Coast and The Place of Pleasure. The chance, as a teenager, to hone his craft on demanding jazz repertoire proved formative. “We were playing all the hippest songs in the jazz canon such as ‘Isotope,’ ‘Inner Urge,’ ‘Passion Dance,’ ‘Red Clay,’ and songs by John Coltrane, Horace Silver, and Miles Davis. It was a blast,” says Person.

During this stage of his development Person cultivated an interest in composition after receiving early encouragement from the renowned St. Louis saxophonist and composer Jimmy Sharrod. In 1993 he composed the tribute piece “Sharrod,” later featured on the World Saxophone Quartet’s Moving Right Along. Additional works from that formative period include “Great Expectations,” distinguished by its demanding 5/4 section, and “Mr. More or Less,” which alternates between 4/4 and 3/4 meters; both appear on Arrival and More Tales to Tell, two recordings that earned widespread critical praise.

While enrolled at Normandy High in 1979, Person also attended the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. Relocating to New York City in 1982 to advance his jazz career, he encountered figures such as Woody Shaw, Art Blakey, Gary Bartz, and Jackie McLean. His pivotal opportunity arrived in 1983 through his involvement with the John Hicks Big Band, leading to an invitation from drummer Chico Hamilton. The resulting partnership produced five recordings and extensive domestic and international touring. “In music, Chico is open to it all and that’s inspiring.”

Person entered Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society in 1984. Jackson’s angular melodies, cosmic sonorities, and intense energy shaped multiple aspects of Person’s approach and furnished his earliest recording and travel prospects. “I did my first tours of the USA and Europe with Shannon and from the first moment to the last I was challenged.”

In 1987 Person joined Kelvyn Bell’s Kelvynator, whose funky, exotic, and propulsive rhythms captivated audiences and yielded the CD Refunkanation. That same year he established the saxophone/tabla duo Sources alongside Bob Coke, who performed on tabla, Indian sarod, acoustic guitar, and additional percussion. The ensemble emphasized fresh sonic directions and contemporary vitality, touring France and the northeastern United States while garnering enthusiastic notices for its inventive work. Between 1987 and 1993 Person traveled internationally with Sources, Kelvynator, Shannon Jackson, and Chico Hamilton.

Bassist Dave Holland’s invitation for Person to join his group in fall 1993 presented the most rigorous musical challenge to date. Holland’s employment of odd meters, free time, and modal frameworks supplied precisely the stimulus Person sought. Their recording Dream of the Elders showcased a luminous, vigorous, and ethereal texture. The connection with Holland paved the way for an especially productive phase that extended through Person’s tenure with the World Saxophone Quartet. Over the ensuing four years he collaborated with Holland, WSQ, and Chico Hamilton while issuing his debut Soul Note releases Arrival, Prophecy, and More Tales to Tell. “I was writing like crazy in this period and I love it when my pen is hot!”

These initial leader dates drew strong critical approval. Person ranked in the Top Ten of Downbeat Magazine’s Readers Poll for soprano saxophone across four consecutive years from 1992 through 1995. Throughout this span he continued expanding his scope to encompass songwriting, arranging, and production while refining his distinctive voice. To realize that vision he assembled successive ensembles in search of the precise sound that would define Meta-Four. Earlier lineups featuring bassist Carlos Henderson, pianists Michael Cain and Darryl Grant, drummers E.J. Strickland, Mark Johnson, and Gene Jackson, and guitarist Cary DeNigris eventually gave way to the current configuration of pianist John Esposito, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer Pete O’Brian.

Meta-Four’s fourth release under Person’s leadership, Extra Pressure, appeared in fall 1999 to critical acclaim that established his stature as a bandleader on national and international stages. The year 2003 brought Live at Big Sur, his fifth Meta-Four recording. Over the past two decades Person has maintained New York as his base while performing and recording with artists including Ofra Haza, the Allman Brothers, Vernon Reid & Living Colour, Woody Shaw, Onaje Allen Gumbs, and the New York City Symphony, among others.