From Jazz to Secular, Eddie M. Plays It All

He plays with different groups around town. He performed with a jazz band when the new senior center opened. He's at church on Sundays. And he's scheduled for his third annual appearance at the Festival of Trees.

Eddie M. is our friendly local saxaphone player.

Milpitas Patch recently had a chance to catch up with him.
Milpitas Patch: What instruments do you play? 

Eddie M.: I play pretty much all the saxophones. But I also play keyboards and do vocals as well. And I do a lot of song writing and producing. I try to cover the basic instruments, at least. But saxophone is my first love, and that's what has taken me around the world. I toured for 25 years, and it was an incredible mission.

Patch: How did you get your start?

Eddie M.: When I was about 7 or 8, my mom took me to a Duke Ellington concert (in Berkeley). I just thought the saxophone section was the coolest thing. And I told my mom then I wanted to play that instrument. And that's where it kind of began for me.

I had a band called All As One. We played a whole lot. That's how I came to meet Shelia E., because she was followed our band. My dear friend, John Paris, who's now a drummer for Earth, Wind, and Fire, was playing in her band. She spent a lot of time coming to check us out. The next thing you know, she had a big record, The Glamorous Life, that came out. She asked me to join her band.  

From there came Prince, and I ended up working and recording with him for four years. That was my first intro to the business. Purple Rain was my first tour. I was almost 20 years old at that point. I was very lucky to come into the professional side at that level. I was a bit spooked by it all and didn't realize how big the situation was until years later. 

Patch: Describe your music.

Eddie M.: I started in the urban R&B scene. I still have my foot on that side because I spent some time touring with smooth jazz artists such as Acoustic Alchemy. I've kind of covered smooth jazz. That mission was accomplished. All the Christian music … I'm in the middle of trying to complete a solo project of myself.  Hopefully in 2011 it will be complete by then. 

Patch: How did you join the music department at Christ Community Church as the assistant music director?

Eddie M.: Christ Community Church of Milpitas has been my home church for about 15, 16 years. I started going there and I didn't even play at church for about five or six years before the word got around that I was a professional musician. Then I got called in by the musical director then and they took me out to lunch and asked if I would be interested in playing. I said, sure. So every time I was in town, off the road, I would play.  I would definitely play every Sunday that I was around. You know, they've watched my career. Pastor John Bristol, Pastor Jim Tirone, Pastor Kim Clevenger and Todd Dunn. They all supported my travel through the years. 

I was living in Long Beach for a couple of years after my divorce. I started talking to Todd, and he brought an idea about coming to help him with the team and build the team. I was anxious to get back here to not miss much of my 12-year old Jacinda. I spent a lot of years with the older children being away since I was working. I didn't want to do that. It just happened to come up, and God just really created this situation for me to come back. I tell you, I've been enjoying every minute of it.