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Sentinel
Ava Mendoza, guitar; Diego Espinosa, percussion; Stomu Takeishi, bass; Erik Friedlander, cello
Erik Friedlander’s latest group Sentinel is a garage band for 2020s. Sentinel’s live feeling and at times raucous music mines the stylings of the 1970's electric guitar virtuosi that provided the soundtrack to Friedlander’s teenage years.
There latest album She Sees will be out on May 24th. This time Friedlander imagined a sentinel on guard watching the world. The album was recorded in Mexico City, January 11-13, 2023 with an expanded version of Friedlander’s band Sentinel; bassist Stomu Takeishi was asked to join the band for this recording and is now a permanent member.
photo by Emilio Espinosa
The Throw
Uri Caine, piano; Mark Helias, bass; Ches Smith, drums; Erik Friedlander, cello
Friedlander wrote the music for A Queens' Firefly after his band The Throw booked a 2-week tour in Europe for February of 2020, just before the pandemic began. He needed to expand the band’s repertoire beyond the pieces of their record, Artemisia (2018). With the sound of the band in his head, he knew what kind of elements would work. “I can depend on Ches Smith to be a creative and commanding drummer who can lead us through the tricky moments with style,” explains Friedlander. “I knew Uri Caine would swing so hard and solo with so much bravado that you couldn’t help but smile every time he played. And I knew Mark Helias would be the wild card at the right moment, changing the energy and holding down the groove with his soulful sound. It was exciting to know I would perform with these great musicians for the European audiences, and then go into the studio and record the pieces with all those shows under our belts.”
photo by René Pierre Allain
video by René Pierre Allain at Scholes Street Studio
Photo by Carlos Mario Lema
ARRULLO DE LA NOCHE HONDA
Poems and Folk songs from Colombia
Lucía Puldio (vox) and Erik Friedlander (cello) have come together to collaborate on a celebration of Colombia, it's music and it's poets. Arrullo combines Colombian folk songs from both the Carribean and Pacific coasts with Friedlander's settings of modern Colombian poetry. 2015 will see the release of a limited edition vinyl, with a foreword by Spanish writer Ramón Andrés, and illustrations by Colombian artist José Antonio Suárez Londoño. The two will be touring March of 2016 in Europe.
KORE
Concerto for Cello and 21 Instruments.
Cello solo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano/celesta, harp, 3 percussionists, 8 violins, bass
Erik Friedlander's new concerto for himself and 21 instrumentalists is inspired by the Greek myth of Persephone, or Kore, who was kidnapped by Hades and eventually forced to spend half the year with him in the underworld. Although this myth is used to describe how the seasons came to be, Friedlander chose to see another side: His KORE tells of the wresting away of a loved one by death and the all too human hope that the intensity of one’s mourning will bring that loved one back to life. Loss is complicated and sometimes the loved one does indeed come back, visiting us through memory and dream. These moments are celebrated by KORE.
Black Phebe
Shoko Nagai, piano, accordion; Satoshi Takeishi, percussion; Erik Friedlander, cello
BLACK PHEBE is Friedlander's sultry new trio. Their newest cd, NOTHING ON EARTH, is part soundtrack recording -- part debut cd. The recording
is atmospheric, with masterfully plucked cello passages, lyrical accordion and rousing,
energetic percussion. .
"Delicious, full of atmosphere..soulful." (Radio Nacional de España)
Photo by Katie Kline
BONEBRIDGE
Erik Friedlander, cello; Doug Wamble, guitar; Michael Sarin, drums; Trevor Dunn, bass.
A jazz quartet inspired by the music of the American South.
“Mr. Friedlander, an ingenious cellist who makes an art of soulful rusticity,“ says Nate Chinen of the NYTimes.
"Nighthawks has an evocative heartland vibe." (Down Beat Magazine - Bill Milkowski)
CDs - BONEBRIDGE | NIGHTHAWKS
Photo by William Struhs
BLOCK ICE & PROPANE
Erik Friedlander, cello; Photos by Lee & Maria Friedlander; Films by Bill Morrison
Cellist Erik Friedlander draws on his experiences as a child traveling across the United States with his family during the 1960's and 70's to create an engaging solo performance that brings together Erik's rich, Americana-inspired cello music, his own stories from now-distant road trips, images taken by his father, the photographer Lee Friedlander, and haunting road films contributed by filmmaker Bill Morrison (Decasia).
"Friedlander delivers what may be the definitive statement thus far in terms of what the cello can do." - Kevin Kampwirth, CMJ.com, August 15, 2007
Photo by Ava Friedlander
ILLUMINATIONS
Erik Friedlander, cello solo
ILLUMINATIONS, cellist Erik Friedlander’s latest solo release was originally commissioned by the Jewish Museum in New York City which hosted an exhibit of ancient books from Oxford University’s Bodleian Collection. The exhibit brought together ancient illuminated texts in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew.
“I found myself in this darkened room surrounded by these gorgeous books and manuscripts that seemed to be talking to me. They were telling me a story of patience and craft, ritual and dedication that was inspiring.”
ILLUMINATIONS weaves inspirations from ancient book making with ritual dance movements and Renaissance vocal forms. The listener may sometimes feel they are hearing a lute or a gamba.
Says Friedlander, “I’m always trying to tell a story with my playing and in ILLUMINATIONS it’s all about a world that’s lit by candles and has the smell of leather and parchment.”
BROKEN ARM BAND
Erik Friedlander, cello; Trevor Dunn, bass; Michael Sarin, drums
Original tunes inspired by the great bassist -- and sometimes cellist -- Oscar Pettiford. A burning trio steeped with the small group feel of Herbie Nichols.
In 1949, Pettiford broke his arm playing baseball. He could still move his fingers even though his arm was in a sling, so he began experimenting with a cello a friend had lent to him. He tuned the cello like a bass only an octave higher and later recorded a series of cello-led projects. “For me Pettiford is a hero: he had a deep connection to the cello--he believed in it as a jazz instrument,” says Friedlander.
"This is effervescent small-group jazz executed with wit and soul." --Nate Chinen, New York Times, October 19
"But Broken Arm Trio, a band and album that's at least as beholden to Alan Lomax as to Charlie Parker, is stunning-both in what it does and how well they do it. This quirky fusion deserves major attention." -- Michael J West, Village Voice