Big Band Swing on a Legendary Stage with Guitarist Eric Shen

While art forms certainly go through their evolution and permutations, the artists who pursue them embrace the tradition and lineage. It’s said that you have to know where you’ve been to know where you are going and this is true nowhere more than in the world of jazz. Hollywood’s Catalina Bar and Grill features the famous and the yet to be famous practitioners of this American born music style on nearly every night of the week. Its stage has seen iconic legends such as Dizzie Gillespie, Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, Marcus Miller, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Michael Brecker, and many more. You can also see guitarist Eric Shen performing at the Catalina as part of the Big Band Swing Express. Though you’ll not experience this early to mid-twentieth century category of jazz at the MTV Awards or Grammys, there are still many enthusiasts who flock to see today’s generation of jazz artists paying tribute to the greats of this era. Shen confirms that the Big Band Swing Express is as challenging as any genre in music today, if not more so. Playing to fans at the Catalina, recording with this large ensemble, or recording his own original jazz compositions, Eric Shen proves that he is a modern day link in the historic lineage of Jazz.

While Shen is known for his original compositions found on his first recording release (on which he collaborated and recorded with the legendary Nolan Smith — lead trumpet for Count Basie’s band, MD for R&B icon Marvin Gaye, and also known for his work with Carol King and others), his role as guitarist for the Big Band Swing Express is that of an ensemble member who defers to the standards of the genre. Playing timeless classics like the Sinatra songbook demands attention and tasteful restraint. The eighteen instrumentalists of the Big Band Swing Express command a full house of attentive listeners at the Catalina. It’s a respect that is reciprocated as Eric declares, “It means a great deal to myself and any musician to play at a world famous club like the Catalina. On any night you can go there and see the greatest musicians on the planet like Mike Landau. As a musician not from the United States, I don’t take for granted the fact that I get to perform on the same stage as the most revered and respected jazz musicians perform every night. It’s both encouraging and humbling.”

Soon, you won’t have to travel to LA to see Shen and the Big Band Swing Express as their Christmas release will be recorded in November of this year. That special feeling this holiday music brings is found in Eric’s appreciation of his success year round. He reveals, “I’m from a very traditional family who always expected me to have a steady income. I worked a ‘regular’ office job for eight hours a day over a five-year period while playing guitar at night until I was able to pursue music full time. I was gigging a lot in Taipei with a residency at the Sappho Live Jazz Club every Sunday night; the best jazz club in Taipei. This was when I first got to play with a lot of Americans and experience playing this American music with musicians from its origins. I had done a lot of recording for the Chinese TV show Rich House Poor House with award winning theater director/producer Stan Lai, playing shuffles and blues but it was this “club” setting that inspired me to pursue my performances in other countries. It may have been comfortable being a studio/session musician but when I considered legends like Miles Davis and Pat Martino, they were always pushing themselves to create something new; to reinvent themselves…that’s the path of a committed jazz musician and it’s my path.”