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Ed Alstrom
Ed
Alstrom grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Started playing organ at age
5, guitar and bass as a teenager. Didn't acquire a piano in the Alstrom
household until he was 12, at which time his father brought home an old
pedal-pump player piano, on which he activated the broken player mechanism
by connecting a canister vacuum cleaner and running it in reverse, which
caused the piano rolls to play at blinding speed. Young Alstrom found
this highly entertaining.
He performed
in the requisite rock bands through high school, but also studied church
organ and dabbled in every other conceivable type of music. He attended
Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and escaped with a B.M. in
Organ Performance, despite playing in disco lounges nearly every night.
In November of 2009, he is starting a new position as Organist/Choir Director
at CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER in Morristown, NJ, and will be heard there at
most Sunday morning services at 10:30. (If he's not there, he's usually
at Yankee Stadium during baseball season).
Alstrom
has performed with Bette Midler, Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein, Herbie
Hancock, Eddie Fisher, Odetta, Dion, Larry Coryell, Darlene Love, LaLa
Brooks, Ronnie Spector, Lou Rawls, Zubin Mehta, Donald Fagan, Uncle Floyd,
Al Kooper, Stanley Jordan, Steven Van Zandt, Ben E. King, Cissy Houston,
John Lloyd Young (star of 'Jersey Boys' on Broadway), and many other notables.
Recently, he has been subbing the keyboards chair at times with the current
incarnation of BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS, featuring the great Rob Paparozzi
on vocals and harmonica.
His Broadway experience includes a 3-month stint as Interim Associate
Conductor on 'Hairspray' (where he subbed the Key 2 chair regularly),
as well as 'Leader Of The Pack (The Ellie Greenwich Musical'), 'Smokey
Joe's Cafe', 'Taboo', 'Brooklyn', and 'Hot Feet'. Off-Broadway, he has
been Musical Director for 'Dream A Little Dream (The Mamas & Papas
Musical)', which ran from May-August 2003; and played the Piano/Keyboard
chair for 'Caroline, or Change', the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical
that ran at the Public Theater in NYC from Oct '03-Feb '04.
Alstrom realized a childhood dream in 2004 when he was asked to be the
weekend (Sat/Sun) Organist at YANKEE STADIUM, where he filled the seat
at the mighty Hammond Colonnade formerly occupied by the great Eddie Layton,
who retired after a 37-year stint. From the time he was 9 years old and
his father took him to his first Yankee game against the Washington Senators
(in
which Frank Howard hit a galvanic 500+ ft. home run to cavernous left
center off Bill Monboquette, if I recall),
young Alstrom heard that organ at the Stadium and said, "I wanna
do THAT". He never dreamed he'd actually get to do it!!
The last
"day job they tell you not to quit" was at FOSTEX in Boonton,
NJ, where Ed was National Sales Manager for their Pro/AV line of products
until June of '09.
Prior to that, he was at Casio Inc. in Dover, NJ where Alstrom was the
Product Manager for the Keyboard Division for the better part of 16 years.
He had design input with Casio's R&D in Japan with the musical instruments,
and composed and arranged a lot of the music that went into them for many
years.
That Trine Door Chime you have may have also been programmed by Alstrom.
He has also done product demonstrations on QVC and HSN for Yamaha keyboards,
and Ion and Silvertone guitars; and has done product reviews for Keyboard
Magazine.
He is also
performing regularly in some other very diverse contexts, outlined in
the Events area of this site.
Ed has recorded three
CDs of this own to date:
GETTIN' ORGAN-IZED! with Ed Alstrom at the Hammond Organ (Haywire
003)
Personnel: Ed Alstrom (Hammond organ, vocal); Charlie
Jones (guitar); Don Guinta (drums).
Ed
releases his first organ CD, showcasing his daring and driving approach
to the Hammond, with the muscular playing of Charlie Jones and Don Guinta
in sympathetic support. A gutbusting mix of R&B, blues, jazz, and
50's pop stylings, and Ed shows his total command of all of the Hammond's
tonal resources, as well as kicking some impressive bass pedals.
1) Smoker's Hack
(Alstrom)
2) Drop Dead Love (Jones)
3) Oofah (Alstrom)
4) Sup Fazha (Alstrom)
5) Booganova (Jones)
6) Out Of My Name (Dupree)
7) Tell Her I Said Goodbye (Alstrom)
8) Ffeh (Alstrom)
9) Mmeh (Alstrom)
10) Reasons (White/Bailey/Stepney)
11) Du Bu Baba Du Be (Alstrom)
12) Cumana (Allen/Spina/Hillman)
13) Something To Drink (Alstrom)
14) Ka-Binga (Alstrom
Acid Cabaret
(Haywire 002)
Personnel: Ed Alstrom (piano, vocals); Jeff Ganz (bass);
Don Guinta (drums).
I hate to use the words "Award-Winning".
but Acid Cabaret actually was! This group attacked the NY Cabaret circuit
in 2002-03, and was very favorably reviewed (see the PRESS area of this
site), and Alstrom garnered the prestigious Backstage Bistro
award and an ASCAP Songwriter Award for this venture.
- If You Give Me
Your Attention (William S. Gilbert - Sir Arthur Sullivan) - Music
Clip
- Woman Trouble
(Alvin Lee) - Music Clip
- Acid Cabaret
(Ed Alstrom) - Music Clip
- Everything I've
Got (Richard Rodgers - Lorenz Hart)
- On The Street
Where You Live (Alan Jay Lerner - Frederick Loewe) - Music
Clip
- This Nearly Was
Mine (Richard Rodgers - Oscar Hammerstein)
- Still Of The
Night (Joe Sharone) - Music Clip
- Tight Woman (Joseph
Pleasant, aka Cousin Joe)
- Trapped In A
Good Marriage (Ed Alstrom)
- Falling Leaves
(Frankie Carle - Mack David)
- Stupid Day (Ed
Alstrom)
- Had You Told
It Like It Was (Gene Redd - Sonny Thompson)
- Theme From An
Imaginary Western (Jack Bruce - Peter Brown)
- Azalea (Duke
Ellington)
- People Gonna
Talk (William Wheeler - Lee Dorsey - Morris Levy - Clarence L. Lewis)
- Somewhere In
America (David Was - Don Was)
- My Mumblin'
Baby (Ridu Green)
Ed Alstrom - The Record People Are Coming (Haywire 001)
Personnel:
Ed Alstrom (piano, vocals); Chris Meyers (bass); Frank Pagano (drums)
The "Acid Cabaret"
concept in its infancy, circa 1996. Comprised mostly of Alstrom originals,
plus covers of songs by Duke Ellington, and Percy Mayfield. A bit ahead
of its time (a nice way of saying it was too obtuse, personal, and overboard
for most listeners), it holds up nicely today as a fascinating curio,
and the breeding ground from whence Acid Cabaret sprung.
Tracks: Piano
Whore; Trapped In A Good Marriage; Stupid Day; Solitude; The Record
People Are Coming; 8-Ball Motel; Fully Cured Romantic; Prayer; Buley's
Formula Hotel Del Centro; Burning Embers; I Made It Just The Same; I'll
Wait; Morning.
Wanna get these? Drop me an e-mail at the contact link...
revised 1/5/10
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