Saturday, March 7, 2015

Introducing Eric Seddon's Hot Club


Here is the flyer announcing the formation of my new jazz band based in Cleveland. I'll have more information about gigs to pass on very soon! Many thanks to all of my readers for the past several years here on The Jazz Clarinet! Your enthusiasm for jazz clarinet has been unflagging! 





Eric Seddon’s Hot Club is a jazz band in the New Orleans tradition, emphasizing soul, blues, tuneful melodic invention, and a beat so warm you’ll have to put ice in your drink to cool down.

The Hot Club was formed in 2015 to continue and promote the tradition of New Orleans Jazz: a uniquely American way of music, demanding equal invention from all band members; whose goal is to express the whole range of human emotions. From our deepest joy to our most piercing sorrow; from restless dissatisfaction to tranquility, New Orleans Jazz has the capacity to identify, charm, and excite that which is central to our lives. Bringing this powerful art form to the community in live performance is, for us, the completion of the music, and our greatest pleasure.

The band is based in Cleveland, lead by Eric Seddon on clarinet. A native of New York, Eric has performed in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and with such celebrated artists as the Emerson String Quartet, Doc Severinsen, and Mark O’Connor. In addition to leading his Hot Club, Eric is active on the Cleveland jazz scene, frequently performing with such popular groups as Hot Djang!, George Foley & Friends, Gene’s Jazz Hot, The SpYder Stompers, and the Nostalgia Factor. An advocate of the sound and history of jazz clarinet, he performs on refurbished, vintage clarinets with mouthpieces from the golden era of jazz.

Other members of the group include:

Bob McGuire on banjo & guitar. A Cleveland legend, nationally known for “Moon Over Parma” (his original theme song for the Drew Carey Show), Bob brings a depth of knowledge and skill on his instruments, seasoned by a life spent mastering the language of early jazz. A veteran of the Cleveland scene, in addition to being a Hot Club member, he is leader of The Nostalgia Factor: a group he formed with Al Mazur on vocals and Gene Epstein on bass, to perform and promote the Great American Songbook. In addition to his jazz credentials, Bob is a composer of classical compositions as well: his pieces for cello are available for sale at Derek Snyder's cellocelli.com

Gene Epstein on acoustic bass. Gene is a much-in-demand bass player on the Cleveland early jazz scene—a mainstay in such groups as George Foley & Friends (you can hear her on Monday evenings holding court at the Tavern Co.), The Nostalgia Factor, where she holds down the bass chair, and her own Gene’s Jazz Hot—an early jazz ensemble patterned after swing bands such as the Hot Club de France.

Bill Fuller on drums. Bill is a rarity among today’s drummers: an artist whose craft was built and polished around the rhythms and timbral language of early jazz and swing ensembles. In addition to Eric Seddon’s Hot Club, he plays regularly with George Foley and Gene’s Jazz Hot, at top venues all around Northeast Ohio. A mainstay on the Cleveland scene for decades, his drumming is unique for its warmth and sensitivity to ensemble—key characteristics for traditional New Orleans jazz.


Eric Seddon’s Hot Club is available for booking, with music for all occasions. Just as the old New Orleans jazz bands played music appropriate to any circumstance: weddings, funerals, wakes, private and corporate parties, or jazz brunches, so we continue that tradition, lending our soulfulness to your event. Send us an email at Eric[dot]Seddon[at]gmail to set up your New Orleans jazz experience.