January through March found us performing all over the eastern seaboard playing concerts, clubs and selections from Duke Ellington's Sacred concert with the Columbia Pro-Cantare Chorus in MD under the direction of Frances Dawson and with members of Bucks County Singers under the direction of Pat Guth at Trinity UMC in Ewing, NJ.  The concerts have a great message of peace and hope and a theme of freedom.  I look forward to doing more of these concerts and what better way of spreading a message
of peace and hope but through jazz. 

In April the EMQ set up residency at Montclair State University where we performed with Danceworks performing 4 Brubeck pieces choreographed by Murray Louis.  The challenge of the great choreography was that the choreographer had been performing these pieces to canned music (music played on a CD that the dancers danced to).  All of their moves and stops and starts were dictated by the tape.  He couldn't understand why we couldn't play it note for note on the tape.  I came up with counting each of the bars on the original tape that each soloist took and we could go by that and it would come out even as long as we were counting bars.  I don't know about you but I don't count when I play.  Each guy in the quartet would count for the other guy so we had each others back. We performed this 5 nights in a row and each night in the improvisation was different.  Every time it came out right and we nailed it every night. 
The improvisations were different and the pieces still remained exciting to see and hear each night.  Thank you Dave, Nelson and Dave...whew!  I also have to say thank you to Chris Brubeck, son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck, who suggested my quartet when he was initially contacted about doing it but couldn't because of a conflicting gig.  Chris and I have become good friends and talk frequently about the jazz music business and how to get more jazz out to the masses. Also in April we started a steady gig at Melt Restaurant in Center Valley, PA. 
You can catch the Eric Mintel Trio there every Wednesday from 7-10pm and sometimes the quartet.  

May found us performing more outdoor concerts including Allentown Mayfair.  Our set at Mayfair was great.  We got a chance to perform a lot of the new music we recorded on the new CD.  The piano and the sound was great and very conducive to creating.  During our set at Mayfair jazz legend Phil Woods sat stage side listening to our set.  Phil is good friends with our sax man the great Nelsondo as we call him, Nelson Hill. In fact Phil was Nelson's first teacher. 
Nelson as right out of college at Eastman and went on the road with Maynard Ferguson.  Nelson even did a stint with drumming legend Buddy Rich and lived to tell about it.  Phil was very complementary and it was a thrill for the other three of us to meet him. 
 Photo by Dave Antonow   

On Monday July 28 we headed to Englewood, NJ to record our new CD Ground-Breaker at Bennett's Studio.  Bennett's is owned and operated by Tony Bennett's son Dae Bennett.  A few days before the session Dae emailed and said he would have to bump our session back from 2pm to 5pm because another group needed to be in the studio at our time slot and would that be okay.  Reluctantly I said okay.  On the way to the session I casually said to the guys "wouldn't it be funny if Tony Bennett was the one who bumped us back"?.  Sure enough it was.  When we got to the studio there was Tony walking up the hall just finishing a session.  I asked him if it would all right to get a picture with him. 
He said "sure" and Dave Mohn snapped the picture here. Then Tony was gone. 

It was the start to a great day.  Joining us that day was our friend, recording engineer and all around genius Jim McGee.  Our session started at 5 and we started laying down tracks by 5:30, we had the first tune in the can and done before 6.  We were not rushing through the session what so ever but we've been playing so long together and have been playing the tunes in concert for almost a year.  We were more than ready to get them down in digital.  It was a completely relaxed atmosphere at the studio and was one of the best studio experiences I've ever had.  We recorded 10 tunes in 5 1/2 hours with some tunes on one take but never more than 2.  Jim McGee had this to say "We tracked it in one night on a big old Neive vintage console in an incredible room with serious mic's and great people. Several cuts were first takes, never more than 2. The musicianship, creativity and positive vibe in that room produced a CD that is reminiscent of the way jazz used to be recorded. A classic CD of which I am proud to be a part. Thanks guys! "  Thank you Jim.

  Jim McGee is incredible to work with.  Try Jim on your next recording project.  As long as he's not working with us :  ) You won't be disappointed.  We spent several days driving up to Jim's house in the country and listening to the playbacks until everyone was happy with the end result.  I couldn't be happier and hope you get a chance to purchase Ground-Breaker. 

It's now available on CD Baby and also on Apple iTunes for your iPod.
The CD can also be purchased through our WEBSITE with PayPal.  

 We released the CD on September 1 and our first gig celebrating the CD was at the COTA Festival on September 6.  Not only did we have the pleasure of performing for the first time at this historic festival but had the extreme pleasure of Phil Woods sitting in with the Eric Mintel Quartet playing a tune. 
Garth Woods snapped the picture here. 

We recently kicked off the Free at the Kimmel Series at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA on Friday September 19.  We performed live in Commonwealth Plaza and had a very large enthusiastic crowd wanting to hear more of us. Thank you Tom Warner, Mervon Mehta and Megan Fitzgerald for all of your enthusiasm for the Eric Mintel Quartet. We had a great time!

On the same bill with us at the Savannah Jazz Festival was the incredible pianist Bob James who was performing Friday night.  I was in the lobby getting coffee when I noticed Bob going into the elevator and realized he was staying at the same hotel.  I was able to give Bob a copy of our new CD.  Our time in Savannah was short and sweet. 
A huge thank you goes out to our fearless driver Dave Antonow who mans the wheel when we go out on the road.
Thanks Dave, go right, no left, wait!!

After the Savannah Jazz Fest we came home for a couple of days then flew right back to Georgia.  This time it was a  4 day run in Southwest Georgia from October 6th through the 10th.  Our first stop was on Monday Oct 6 at Darton College.  We've performed at Darton many times before.  It was a day of jazz with a concert at 12pm for the students and then another concert that night for the students and the public.  They video taped the concert that night.  If you get a chance to look on You Tube, I posted Mojito Madness from the concert.  When you go on You Tube type in Eric Mintel Quartet and look for EMQ on Tour and there it is along with several other videos from other concerts.  The next day we were off to a 3 day residency at Georgia Southwestern U in Americus GA.  We worked with the choir students of Julie Megginson and prepared for our concert performing the sacred music of Duke Ellington.  The choir was fantastic and when we went in for the first day's rehearsal they nailed it.  During the second part of the day we talked to
music students about the business of jazz, how o listen to jazz, the roles of the instruments and how a jazz group communicates.

  Dave Mohn conducted a master class on drumming.   During our time in Americus we stayed at the beautiful Windsor Hotel.  It turns out the Windsor Hotel is one of the top 10 most haunted hotels in the country with spirits being seen on the third floor.  Guess what floor we were on?...the third.  I didn't see anything but I thought I did see Nelson Hill levitate a few time while playing a solo.  Our concert took place at the Rylander Theater across from our hotel.  The Rylander is a beautiful concert hall which was totally renovated to it's original beauty a few years ago.  There's a photo of it posted on the photos page here on the site. We started off with a jazz set followed by the Sacred concert.  Once again the choir nailed it and Julie directed them to perfection.  I'm looking forward to working with them again.  Joining us that week on bass was Steve Varner who covered for Dave Antonow who couldn't make the trip.  Steve did a great job. 

At the end of October we performed for the first time at Forest Grove Presbyterian Church in Bucks County, PA.  They have really embraced straight ahead jazz thanks to Pat Guth the new music director.  The small church was packed to rafters with jazz fans and EMQ fans.  It was a beautiful fall afternoon with a very appreciative crowd.  We'll be back at Forest Grove in December of 09.  Looking forward to it.  Thanks Pat.

On November 14 we had another great concert and capacity crowd at Allentown Symphony Hall.  Jazz writer, Steve Siegel, wrote a great review on the EMQ's new CD Ground-Breaker.  Thanks Steve for your kind words.  We played some new music I wrote a few days prior as well as mostly music from the new CD.  It was a great night.  If you're ever in the Allentown area check out the Jazz Cabaret at Allentown Symphony Hall.  It's a great room and a great atmosphere to listen to jazz. 
 Thanks again Steve and Deb and Lucy and Debbie.  We'll see you soon.

After the concert in Allentown we got ready for a three day run in North Carolina with concerts at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines on November 21 then to the Hayes Center in Blowing Rock on the 22nd then back home on the 23rd and a concert at Trenton City Museum that night.  While at the Philadelphia airport a snowstorm came out of nowhere.  Thankfully we got an early flight out but while we sat on the tarmac they had to de-ice the entire plane before take off.  Finally after 40 min we took off and it's a good thing we did because they didn't let anymore planes out and there was a 6 hour backup.  We arrived in Durham and drove an hour to Southern Pines.  Whatever snow we had in Philly it didn't seem to reach Southern Pines.  What an incredible town.  There is a real great cultural element among the people and the places there.  We checked into the beautiful Jefferson Hotel.  I was looking forward to getting some rest before the concert.  Just as I closed my eyes my cell phone rang and it was my contact for our next day concert at the Hayes Center.  Turns out Blowing Rock which was 3 hours from Southern Pines had a snowstorm which dumped 10 inches and the mountain road to get to the Hayes Center was shut down with no other way to get there.  He told me our concert had to be cancelled.  They were very apologetic and fulfilled my contract.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  As of this writing we are figuring out a rescheduled date so we can get back to the Hayes Center. Back in Southern Pines and after getting no rest at all, Dave Antonow and I with coffee in hand took a walk around town and down to the Sunrise Theater.  All over the town posters were placed everywhere for our concert.  Jordan Baker came over and handed me the newspaper which carried a story of the quartet's performance with a huge picture of us on the cover of the entertainment section.  It was a great night with the audience yelling "Come back!, Come back!" at the end of the concert. 
I'm looking forward to it.  Thanks Jordan.

In December we had several holiday jazz concerts starting at Godfrey Daniel's in Bethlehem, Council Rock HS South in Newtown, PA, the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, PA, Crossing Vineyards and Winery in Washington Crossing, PA and the Sellersville Theater.  Godfrey Daniels is a great place to play.  It's a listening room.  We had a very nice and intimate crowd and we tried some brand new tunes and songs from the CD.  The sponsor that night was WDIY.  Thanks Bill and thanks to David Reber and Steve Walker. 

The Colonial Theater in Phoenixville was great.  It is a beautiful theater with great acoustics.  If you remember the scene in the 1950's movie the Blob where people are running out of the movie theater where the Blob is oozing out of the projector room into the theater,
that's the Colonial Theater.

  Turns out they filmed that movie all over Phoenixville and Downingtown.  I also found out Houdini performed there as well.  We even made the front page of the Phoenix Newspaper the next day. 

Later that week we performed at Council Rock HS South in Newtown, PA where we performed with the South Vocal ensemble under the direction of Corey Axler.  We had a great time and at the end of the concert were joined by almost 100 students from the choir.
  It was a lot of fun. 

On December 5th the Wall Street Journal ran my picture and a blurb about the EMQ performing at Crossing Vineyards and Winery on December 18.  We had a great time at Crossing Vineyards with a great crowd.  Thanks Tom and Chris.  Our last holiday concert of the year was performed at the Sellersville Theater.  Joining us this year at the ST was the Wissahickon Camerata under the direction of John Conahan.  Originally the Souderton High School Choir was supposed to do the concert with us but with scheduling conflicts and contractual issues had to pull out of it this year.  John and his choir did an incredible job.  Thanks John.

Once again on a very early Christmas eve morning me, Nelson, Dave Antonow and Dave Mohn went into New York City to perform again on the CW11 Morning News which is now PIX11.  We loaded in earlier this year because the show is on a half hour earlier.  This year we checked in from a different spot than last year.  As I walked into the lobby of the Daily News Building and saw the huge globe spinning in the lobby it looked very familiar to me like I had seen this before somewhere.  Turns out I did.  The Daily News Building was used as the Daily Planet building in Superman the Movie with Christopher Reeve.  So cool.  We met up with director and good friend of the EMQ Tom Wisnosky who also brought out his son Mike and friend Brandon who are EMQ fans.As we were waiting to do the sound check news anchor Tiffany McElroy came up and said hello.  I worked with Tiffany when the quartet performed on the "10" show when she was a host.  I gave her a copy of the new CD. 

After our sound check at 4am we went back to the Greenroom and got some rest before our 8:50 to 9:00am time slot.  The performance went well and everyone in the quartet got a chance to shine although Dave Mohn's drum solo got clipped towards the end but Dave is such a great cat that he didn't mind for the good of the group.  Thanks Tom, Kate, Jamie, Emily and the rest of the crew.

Some great things coming up this year for the quartet are a feature story in the June issue of Down Beat Magazine.  A New York City performance at the Kitano on Thursday May 21 and a filming of the quartet in a Marian McPartland documentary.  Until then please continue to check our website as dates are being added all the time. 
We look forward to seeing you again and sharing our love
of jazz with you.  Thanks for your support and Happy New Year!

Please keep checking our website for more concerts and gigs coming up.  Some good news in the works.  In January a film crew will film me playing some of Marian McPartland's tunes for an up coming documentary about Marian called Good Times.  Speaking of Marian, she recently sent me a stack of her original music to record for my next solo piano CD.  That will be another project in the works soon.  As always and I can't say it enough, thank you for your support over the years. 
This year I'm celebrating 15 years as the leader of the Eric Mintel Quartet. 

I hope you enjoy this latest installment of the Eric Mintel Quartet newsletter.  Usually I would do our newsletters every few months to keep you posted on the latest with the quartet but lately it's been more like once a year as the quartet continues to keep a very active performing and touring schedule.  I left off with you last December so I'll try and pick up where I left off.  If you see references to EMQ that's short for the Eric Mintel Quartet but you already knew that.  2007 started off with the recording of our latest CD Times Change.  We spent one full day on January 15 recording the tunes in either one or two takes and the next day mixing and mastering.  We recorded 18 tunes and revisited some songs I wrote a while ago like Boogie Sugar, Philadelphia Rush Hour and the Paul Desmond classic Take Five.  I was very happy when Marian McPartland heard that we were going to record a new album and asked me if I would like to record one of her songs called Ambiance.  Which we did.  We decided on 13 tunes and over 70 min of music.  Joining me on the record  are the great Nelson Hill on alto sax, the incredible Dave Antonow on bass and Mr. Time Dave Mohn on drums.  The music was elevated to another level and we captured the pure joy of playing together and the raw spontaneous energy which is so important in jazz.  We recorded at Morning Star Studios in Springhouse, PA.  Dave Brubeck called me to say that he loved the new album.  Dave and I talked at length about the quartet and what direction we're heading.  Dave also wrote the liner notes to the CD and said "This new CD by the Eric Mintel Quartet is absolutely wonderful.  Each member of the Eric Mintel Quartet are talented and gifted individuals.  This is a very strong group".  Also joining in on the other half of the liner notes was XM Satellite Radio Jazz Programmer Max Myrick who said "this CD is like waking up to a sunny day".

Times Change is in heavy air play on XM Satellite Radio and several jazz stations around the country including WKAR in Michigan, WRTI in Philadelphia, WPKN in Bridgeport, CT, WICN in Boston, MA, WBGO in Newark, NJ and several jazz stations on the West Coast.    Thank you to all who have purchased the CD.  We're very glad you're enjoying it.  We'll be recording another album in January or February of all new material.   

In April we performed on the Homegrown Music program
on WVIA in Pittston, PA near Scranton, PA. 

In September we held the 4th annual Morrisville Jazz Festival in memory of Mike Sherlock in Williamson Park in Morrisville, PA.  The festival was held on Labor Day Monday September 3 and featured the Eric Mintel Quartet and the Brubeck Brothers Quartet featuring Chris Brubeck and Dan Brubeck along with Chuck Lamb on piano and Mike D'Amico on guitar.  It was a great day and what made it even better was the generosity of Morrisville Borough and their great Mayor Tom Wisnosky and all the volunteers that made it all possible.  Chris and Dan were such a joy to work with.  Chris is one of the nicest guys I've ever met and one hell of an arranger, trombonist and bass player.  Dan is an incredible drummer but also a great guy.  We had a great time listening to them, hanging after the concert and had a great photo together after the concert.  Chris has kept a very busy schedule with performances all over the country and the world. Thanks to Chris, the EMQ is doing a Brubeck program at Montclair State University in April 2008.  The concert is part of the Performance Art series where we will share the stage with a professional dance troupe led by Tito Del Saz from NYC.  They will modern dance as we improvise on numbers like Take Five, Koto Song, Three To Get Ready and Unsquare Dance.  They have already started rehearsals.  The shows run for 4 nights in a row.  Since we will be in Montclair, we will be working with students in some of the local schools with workshops on jazz and will also perform assemblies at some of the surrounding schools.  Everything will be posted on our web site soon.