Erica Lindsay (born June 5, 1955 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California, United States) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

saxophone player and composer.

Music career

Lindsay's parents, both teachers, lived in Europe in the 1960s. She began her studies in composition with Mal Waldron in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

when she was fifteen years old. She played clarinet, then alto and tenor saxophone. In 1973, she studied for a year at the

Berklee School of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston and then went back to Europe, where she began her music career. She formed and a local quartet and went on tour. Since 1980, she has lived in New York. As a saxophonist, she worked with

Melba Liston Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...

Clifford Jordan Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after ...

, Dizzy Gillespie,

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman wo ...

George Gruntz George Gruntz (24 June 1932 – 10 January 2013) was a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist, and composer known for the George Gruntz Concert Big Band and his work with Phil Woods, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker ...

, and

Pheeroan akLaff Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” ...

. Lindsay composed for theater, television, and dance productions and worked with poets and performance artists such as

Carl Hancock Rux Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, journalist, curator and conceptual installation artist working in text, dance, ritualized performance, audio, video, and photography. Described in the NY T ...

, Janice King, Janine Vega, Mikhail Horowitz and Nancy Ostrovsky. She leads her own quartet and is the co-leader of a quartet with Sumi Tonooka. In 1989, her debut album ''Dreamer'' was recorded for

Candid Records Candid Records was a jazz record label first established in New York City. Early Candid Records The CANDID jazz label was founded in New York City in 1960 as a subsidiary of Cadence Records, owned by Archie Bleyer. The jazz writer and civil right ...

, with contributions from Robin Eubanks, Howard Johnson, Francesca Tanksley, and Anthony Cox. In the 1990s and 2000s, Lindsay played with

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black ...

Baikida Carroll Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947) is an American jazz trumpeter. Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he di ...

, Howard Johnson,

Jeff Siegel Jeff Siegel is an American financial writer, publisher and musician. He is the author of the bestseller ''Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks'' along with Nick Hodge and Chris Nelder and is credited with coining the ...

Thurman Barker Thurman Barker (born January 8, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American jazz drummer. Barker's first professional experience was at age sixteen with Mighty Joe Young. Barker took his bachelor's at Empire State College, then studie ...

and the band Trace Elements. Their album ''Yes – Live at the Rosendale Cafe'' appeared in 2008. She is co-founder of the Artists Recording Collective recording label. Lindsay is visiting Assistant Professor at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

Discography

As leader or co-leader * ''Dreamer'' (Candid, 1989) * ''Yes: Live at the Rosendale Cafe'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2008) * ''Initiation'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2009) with Sumi Tonooka With Alchemy Sound Project * ''Further Explorations'' (Alchemysoundproject, 2016) With

* ''Door of the Cage'' (Soul Note, 1995) * '' Marionettes on a High Wire'' (OmniTone, 2001) With

* ''Cloth'' (Passin' Thru, 2003) With Jeff Siegel * ''Live in Europe'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2005)

References

External links

Official site

AllAboutJazz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Erica 1955 births Living people American jazz saxophonists Bard College faculty Composers from San Francisco Jazz musicians from San Francisco American women jazz musicians 21st-century American saxophonists Women jazz saxophonists 21st-century American women musicians American women academics