Eric Darius (born December 3, 1982), is an American saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and educator.
Early life
Darius was born in New Jersey to a father of Haitian descent and a mother of Jamaican descent.
He grew up in Tampa, Florida. Born into a musical family, his father plays bass, his mother and sister sing, and his older brother plays drums and trumpet. Darius grew up listening to
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
,
Earth, Wind and Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...
,
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
,
Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
,
Grover Washington, Jr.
Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999) was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre.
He wr ...
,
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) 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 1 ...
,
George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...
,
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
. He developed a love and appreciation for music at an early age, as his parents exposed him to music from many genres.
The first time he saw someone playing saxophone was when in church when he was nine years old. He fell in love with the sound. His parents bought him a saxophone for his birthday.
He began his performing career at the age of 11, when he joined and toured with Sonny LaRosa and America's Youngest Jazz Band.
The band included kids from the ages of five to twelve and toured worldwide, playing music by
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
,
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
, and
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
. While performing with the band at the
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
, he decided to pursue a career in music.
At thirteen he left the youth band and his father became his manager. He started performing in Tampa Bay with his own band. As a teenager he performed over 100 shows per year. He attended Howard W. Blake High School of the Performing Arts.
In high school he participated in music and sports. He performed with the Blake High School jazz band at the
Essentially Ellington
The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival is an annual high school jazz festival and competition that takes place every May at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The festival is aimed at encouraging young musician ...
contest and festival at Lincoln Center. At seventeen he released his first album independently.
Darius attended the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...
in Tampa, where he studied business and music. He studied jazz under the direction of Chuck Owens and
Jack Wilkins
Jack Rivers Lewis (born June 4, 1944), known professionally as Jack Wilkins, is a jazz guitarist.
Career
A native of New York City, Wilkins grew up listening to his parents' music, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday. He ...
and was a member of the university's Jazztet, which performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival,
North Sea Jazz Festival
The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...
,
Jazz à Vienne
Jazz à Vienne is a Jazz Festival in Vienne, Isère, near Lyon, France.
The festival has been held since 1981 in the months of June and July for two weeks. Every evening during the festival, there are concerts in the ancient Roman theater of Vie ...
, and the
Umbria Jazz Festival
The Umbria Jazz Festival is one of the most important jazz festivals in the world and has been held annually since 1973, usually in July, in Perugia, and surrounding cities of the region of Umbria Italy. Furthermore, the Umbria Jazz Winter Festi ...
. During college, he signed a recording contract with
Higher Octave Music
Higher Octave Music is a sub-label imprint of Narada Productions. Since 2013, it is part of Universal Music Group's Capitol Music Group, which is located in Los Angeles.
History
Higher Octave was acquired by Virgin Records on behalf of EMI in 199 ...
.
Career
His debut album ''Night on the Town'' was released in 2004 by Higher Octave and peaked at No. 32 on the jazz albums chart at ''Billboard'' magazine.
This was followed by ''Just Getting Started'', peaking at No. 18 (2006), ''Goin' All Out'' at 14 (2008), ''On a Mission'' at 10 (Shanachie, 2010), ''Retro Forward'' at 15 (2014), and ''Breakin' Thru'' at 19 (2018).
The single "Goin' All Out" reached No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz chart during the week of October 25, 2008.
His performance at the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival earned him the ''JazzTrax'' Best Live Performance of the Year and the ''Smooth Jazz News'' Debut Artist of the Year.
Discography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Darius, Eric
1982 births
Living people
American jazz alto saxophonists
American jazz tenor saxophonists
American male saxophonists
American jazz soprano saxophonists
American jazz singers
American jazz composers
Songwriters from California
American educators
Crossover jazz saxophonists
Smooth jazz saxophonists
Blue Note Records artists
University of South Florida alumni
Musicians from Los Angeles
21st-century American saxophonists
Jazz musicians from California
American male jazz composers
African-American male songwriters
21st-century African-American male singers
20th-century African-American male singers