Bay Area Jazz Pianist Eric Vaughn to Release First Nationally Distributed CD, “Minor Relocation,” on August 7

During his more than three decades in
jazz, pianist-composer Eric Vaughn has played with some of the genre’s
leading lights. He has performed up and down the West Coast, in Europe,
and in North Africa, where he fondly remembers having played “A Night in
Tunisia” in Tunisia. But his own music has largely fallen under the
jazz radar screen–a situation sure to be rectified with the release of
“Minor Relocation,” his first nationally distributed recording.

Richmond, CA (PRWE July 20, 2012

Eric Vaughn
has devoted most of his life to jazz, but recognition for his
distinctively personal music has long eluded him. Vaughn’s luck can be
expected to turn, however, with the release on August 7 of “Minor
Relocation,” the 58-year-old pianist/composer’s first nationally
distributed album.

The new CD, released on his Vaughn Music label, serves as an
introduction to a fresh and intriguing voice on the piano. Vaughn
describes his music, which fuses elements of Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum,
McCoy Tyner, and others, as “hard bop to modern-esque.” “I’ve
definitely learned from the traditional players,” he says. “I’ve taken
from a little bit of everybody and I’ve taken some classical and I’ve
put it all in there.”

The “minor relocation” of the disc’s title refers to the pianist’s
2009 move back to the Bay Area from Seattle, where he’d resided the
previous 12 years. Vaughn recorded the CD over a three-year period in
both locales, working in Seattle with bassists Nate Omdal and Mark
Bullis and drummers Nicholas Quitevis and Jamiel Nance, and in the Bay
Area with tenor saxophonist Bob Kenmotsu, bassist John Wiitala, and
drummer Kent Bryson. “I hadn’t seen them in 35 years,” Vaughn says of
the three latter musicians, with whom he once worked in San Francisco’s
North Beach.

Most of the CD’s repertoire consists of Vaughn’s striking originals,
including the swinging title track, the minor-blues-based “Tune for
Trane,” and the bossa ballad “Joyce,” as well as his takes on “Stella by
Starlight,” “Alone Together,” and “On Green Dolphin Street.”

Bronx, NY-born Eric Vaughn grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, where
he moved at age 7 with his mother and stepfather, a semi-professional
musician. When Eric was 9, both he and his stepdad began taking piano
lessons from Sal Mosca, the Lennie Tristano disciple noted for his
recordings with Lee Konitz, among others. The younger Vaughn continued
his studies till he was 14, when basketball became a primary focus.

A basketball scholarship brought Vaughn to the University of San
Francisco, but knee injuries thwarted his athletic ambitions. He applied
for, and won, a music scholarship, despite having been away from his
musical studies for nearly five years. Vaughn went on to earn his
Bachelor’s degree in music and a Master’s in music performance, both
from USF. Several years of classical piano lessons during this time
“influenced my technique for sure and my ideas as well,” he says now.
“It’s useful for improvising and my chops and reading.”

Vaughn spent two years in the early ’80s playing in Europe with
bassoonist Michael Rabinowitz, another former Mosca student, then moved
to Oakland and became part of a circle of avant-garde players that
included saxophonists Ghasem Batamutu and Julius Hemphill, trumpeter
Rasul Siddik, and bassist James Lewis. In 1985 he moved to Vancouver, BC
and remained there for 12 years, performing regularly at the Vancouver
International Jazz Festival and working a steady club engagement with
trumpeter Gabriel Mark Hasselbach. He also spent two years in the early
’90s touring as a member of former B.B. King bassist Russell Jackson’s
blues band.

During his years in Seattle (1997-2009), Vaughn played with his own
groups and those led by tenor saxophonist Bert Wilson and conga drummer
Billy Poindexter (son of Pony Poindexter). He recorded three
little-noticed albums—a solo piano date titled “Reflections: Past and
Present”; the trio session “A New Beginning”; and “The Chaotic World We
Live In,” on which he overdubbed piano and melodica parts. With
Poindexter’s quartet, he recorded “Live at the Birkshire” (2007).

Vaughn’s “minor relocation” back to the Bay Area in 2009 marks an
exciting new chapter in his musical life. A Kickstarter campaign is
supporting the release of his new CD, and higher-profile gigs are coming
his way. To celebrate the release of “Minor Relocation,” Vaughn and his
quartet (Bob Kenmotsu, John Wiitala, Kent Bryson) will be performing at
142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley on Thursday 8/9 at 8pm. He’s
also set to appear at Rasselas in San Francisco on Wednesday 8/15 at
8pm, and at Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland on Saturday 10/13, 8pm,
with more bookings in the works.