Eric Essix

Eric Essix has maintained a prolific career in contemporary jazz, releasing 29 full-length albums and continually pushing the genre’s creative boundaries with an emphasis on Southern roots music influences. A graduate of Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, a 1991 Alabama Jazz Hall Of Fame inductee, and a 2026 Alabama Distiguished Artist Honoree, Essix built his early career through releases on several respected labels before gaining international recognition with his breakout album Small Talk on Zebra Records, distributed by Warner/Elektra/Atlantic. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Essix balanced a successful solo career with extensive touring as a sideman, performing with leading jazz artists including Jeff Lorber, Gerald Albright, Ronnie Laws, Earl Klugh, and Phil Perry. He also spent 12 years touring with R&B legend Peabo Bryson. Since 2002, Essix has released 19 albums on his own Essential Recordings label and, in 2020, entered a major-label distribution partnership with Universal Music Group/Virgin Music through Lightyear Entertainment. Beyond recording and performance, Essix has made a lasting impact as an arts leader and educator. From 2010 to 2023, he served as Director of Programming at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he presented hundreds of artists across genres, including Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Wynton Marsalis, and Diana Krall.