Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Russ Gershon was born on August 11, 1959 and grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He attended Harvard University where he received a degree in philosophy and was a disc jockey, jazz director and station manager at Harvard’s WHRB radio station. He attended Berklee College of Music for a year in 1984 and the following year the Either/Orchestra played its first live show at the Cambridge Public Library.

Founding Accurate Records he has released albums by Morphine, Medeski Martin & Wood, the Alloy Orchestra, Ghost Train Orchestra, the Either/Orchestra, Dominique Eade, and Garrison Fewell. He has been a member of rock bands and has worked as a studio musician as well as performing in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1997 Russ played arrangements of Ethiopian popular music with the Either/Orchestra. This drew the attention of Francis Falceto, who produced the “Éthiopiques” series of albums to document 20th century Ethiopian music. Through Falceto’s connections his band were invited to Addis Ababa in 2004 and became the first American big band to perform in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington’s in 1973.Their principal concert was released as the album Ethiopiques 20: Live in Addis and led to working with Ethiopian musicians such as Mahmoud Ahmed, and appeared with Ahmed’s band at Carnegie Hall in 2016.

Saxophonist, flutist, composer, and arranger Russ Gershon continues to perform with the Either/Orchestra.

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