Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Elias Haslanger was born on July 9, 1969 in Austin, Texas. Growing up during the 1980s he listened to the Marsalis Brothers, Mark Whitfield and Roy Hargrove among others. In sixth grade he picked up the saxophone, and by the time he was in high school, he was playing gigs around his hometown and San Antonio.
After graduating from high school he attended the University of Texas at Austin studying with Harvey Pittel, then moved to New York to matriculate the Manhattan School of Music. From there his education took him back to study at Southwest Texas State University (TSU), during which time he received the Downbeat Student Music Award for College Outstanding Tenor Saxophone Performance.
His 1994 debut album Standards is a collection of straight-ahead bop and swing tunes featuring the top Austin area musicians. His second project titled For The Moment followed by his 1998 release of Kicks Are For Kids that brought the Marsalis patriarch in to collaborate. That same year Elias put on his educators cap and began teaching theory and composition at TSU.
A move to Brooklyn, New York in 2000 got the attention of Maynard Ferguson and in short order Haslanger was sitting in the same chair that Wayne Shorter once occupied. This experience help shaped him as a bandleader and performer.
In 2004 he returned to Austin, started his own label Cherrywood Records, released it debut release Dream Story. He has performed with Harry Connick Jr., Frank Foster, Clark Terry, Steve Turre, Al Grey, Lew Soloff, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Ron Westray, Jesse Davis, J. J. Johnson, Peter Martin, Russell Gunn, among other jazz luminaries. He has also played with Chirstopher Cross, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Alejandro Escovedo, Asleep At The Wheel, Sheryl Crow and countless others in pop and soul genres.
Tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone player Elias Haslanger continues to perform, record and tour around the world with annual invites to play the North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals.
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