NEW YORK TIMES
“Each member has a say in the creation of elaborate, trickily metered arrangements. Above it all flies Ms. Sutton’s flexible voice.”
The first time I heard Oscar Peterson, I kept going to the store to order the part, of course I never received it; later, when I learned it was improvised, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve always had perfect pitch, so I was known for hearing anything and knowing the notes. However, my training was not open to improvisation.” It was “learn the piece, and then interpret it,” he says. “Even at that age they would basically interpret it for you. In retrospect that probably taught me what is the basic musical feel.”
Though studying classical music, the young pianist continued to play jazz “as a hobby”; he worked in combos in Lorraine, and began to develop a style. “Dave Brubeck was my first discovery, then Oscar Peterson was a different dimension. I could hear his classical technique; his personality was there too. What he says, he means, and you can hear him having so much fun doing it.” After graduating with “First Prize” from the Paris Conservatory Christian took the risk of going to America to study jazz. “Going to America wasn’t something I had planned to do. It would cost a fortune and I didn’t speak English. Then one day a friend of mine said that he was going to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and I realized that it was a great opportunity. My friend spoke English and if I could get a scholarship, I believed I could make it work. It was a great plan, but I didn’t get a scholarship, and at the last minute my friend couldn’t go. So I ended up going alone.
To make matters more difficult I had arranged to arrive two weeks before classes started so that I could work on learning English. It seemed like a good idea, but it never occurred to me that the dormitories would not be open and I would have no place to stay. Fortunately for me a recruiter for Scientology spotted me wandering around, and wanted to teach me all about their religion. He wanted me to really understand what Scientology was, but his books were in English. So every day we sat with a dictionary and Scientology writings and he taught me the meaning of each word, making sure that I really got it. So basically I had a full two weeks of English lessons right before classes started.”
It was at Berklee that Christian shed a lot of his classical emphasis and concentrated nearly exclusively on jazz, on learning the art of improvisation and on developing his own personal style. While at Berklee Christian won a number of awards, including the Oscar Peterson Jazz Masters Award, the Great American Jazz Piano Competition and “Downbeat” magazine’s distinction as Top Collegiate Jazz Soloist. After graduating Christian took a teaching position at Berklee, but gave that up when the opportunity came along to tour with Maynard Ferguson.
“Life on the Road with Maynard was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. We toured eight months out of the year and performed almost every day. It was exhausting, educational, inspirational and most of all it was fun.”
Ferguson plucked Christian from the ranks of an early 1990s edition of Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau band to be the first featured artist in the “Maynard Ferguson Presents” series on Concord Records. He produced Christian’s first two trio recordings: “Maynard Ferguson Presents Christian Jacob” and “Time Lines.”
After leaving Maynard Ferguson’s band Christian quickly began performing and recording with many of today’s jazz legends: Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Randy Brecker, Miroslav Vitous, and Bill Holman to name just a few.
By the mid 1990’s Christian teamed up with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker and bassist Trey Henry to record their first CD together, “Introducing Tierney Sutton”. The band became known for its sophisticated, refreshing arrangements, and the obvious musical joy they felt when playing together. They developed into a tightly knit group that recorded seven critically acclaimed CDs for Telarc Jazz; “Unsung Heroes”, “Blue in Green”, “Something Cool”, “Dancing in the Dark”, “I’m With The Band”, “On the Other Side”, “Desire”, and “American Road”. The latter four were each nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. “American Road” yielded Christian a personal nomination (as well as each band member) in the Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal category as well.
In the midst of his success with the Tierney Sutton Band, Christian released his third trio CD, this time on his own independent label WilderJazz. The 2004 release, “Styne & Mine”, is a tribute to the music of Jule Styne, and reached #3 in the jazz radio charts. The success of “Styne & Mine” motivated Christian to record “Contradictions” in 2006. The CD pays homage and offers another look at the original compositions of renowned pianist Michel Petrucciani.
Due to these recordings Christian was asked to tour and record in Japan. The resulting CD “Live in Japan” was released in November 2008.
He attended USC on an orchestral scholarship studying string bass with LA Phil co-principal bassist, Dennis Trembley. He has performed, recorded and toured with artists as diverse as Natalie Cole, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Hank Jones, Phil Woods, Lalo Schifrin, Shelby Lynne, Queen Latifah, Placido Domingo, Pat Williams, Russell Watson, Patti Austin, Bobby Shew, Chuck Mangione, Bernadette Peters, Cristian Castro, Lea Salonga, KD Lang, Dave Koz, The Tierney Sutton Band, David Benoit, Bob Florence, Mitch Forman and Chuck Loeb, Robben Ford, Jack Sheldon, Etta James, James Moody, Christopher Cross, Cheryl Bentyne, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Glenn Frey, and Melissa Manchester to name just a few. Kevin has performed on over 150 albums and has performed bass in dozens of theater, film and television productions. Kevin has played on projects that have garnered a total of 12 Grammy nominations. He also received a Grammy Nomination in 2012 as a co-arranger in the Best Arrangement Accompanying A Vocal category.
He appears on more than 200 recordings with various artists including Ray Charles, Maynard Ferguson, Sammy Nestico, Linda Ronstadt, Gerald Wilson, Tom Scott, Steve Allen and Lalo Schifrin. His work with vocalist Tierney Sutton has resulted in five Grammy nominations.
He has worked on numerous T.V. productions ranging from “The Family Guy” “The Simpsons”, “King of the Hill” and “American Dad” to “American Idol” the Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards, “Americas Got Talent” and “Dancing With The Stars”.
His film and sound track credits include “Rush Hour”, “The Thomas Crown Affair”, “The Lion King”, “Far From Heaven”, “Brother Bear”, “The Haunted Mansion”, “Nacho Libre”, “Talladega Nights”, “Burlesque”, “Charlie St Cloud”, “Pursuit Of Happyness”, “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” and “J. Edgar”.
Strickland has 3 albums as a leader under his belt: In This Day (2009), The Undying Spirit (2015), & Warriors For Peace (2018) featuring the sound of his world traveled band The E.J. Strickland Quintet, which plays mostly his original compositions. In 2020, he received a grant from The Jazz Coalition to write a composition which he entitled “A Unified Stance, We Must Take”, a 6-movement suite dedicated to John Lewis.
In addition to being an in-demand drummer on the New York Jazz scene, he’s also a private teacher, ensemble coach, & masterclass clinician. He’s worked with students worldwide at the prestigious Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music under the direction of Dave Douglas & Vijay Iyer, The University Of Manitoba, The University Of Connecticut, & New School For Jazz & Contemporary Music.
Armed with endless curiosity, a desire to connect with humankind, and the power of his sound, E.J. Strickland continues to clear a path for himself in the jazz world & beyond – a path that can only grow wider in the years to come.
Of late, Gene has won a Grammy with the John Daversa big band, and has been recording, touring and performing in Europe and the US with SEAL, Larry Carlton, Bob Reynolds, Richard Bona, Mike Landau, Robben Ford, Stanley Clarke, Terrence Blanchard, Pharoah Sanders, Tom Scott, Bennie Maupin, John Beasly’s Monkestra, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Cody Chestnut, DJ Khalil, Big Krit, Rick Ross, Mali Music, Nai Palm (Hiatus Kaiyote) Leslie Odom jr. … all in addition to recording and producing his own band The Endangered and numerous other artists from LA to NY.