Erica Lindsay (born June 5, 1955 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California, United States) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophone player and composer.

Music career

Lindsay's parents, both teachers, lived in Europe in the 1960s. She began her studies in composition with

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

when she was fifteen years old. She played clarinet, then alto and tenor saxophone. In 1973, she studied for a year at the

Berklee School of Music Berklee College of Music () is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level ...

in Boston and then went back to Europe, where she began her music career. She formed and a local quartet and went on tour. Since 1980, she has lived in New York. As a saxophonist, she worked with

Melba Liston Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands, she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...

Clifford Jordan Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player and composer. Originally from Chicago, Jordan later moved to New York City, where he recorded extensively in addition to touring across ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Tri ...

George Gruntz George Gruntz (24 June 1932 – 10 January 2013) was a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist, and composer known for the George Gruntz Concert Big Band and his work with Phil Woods, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker ...

, and Pheeroan akLaff. Lindsay composed for theater, television, and dance productions and worked with poets and performance artists such as

Carl Hancock Rux Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, singer-songwriter, novelist, essayist, as well as multidisciplinary performance installation artist. His work includes sound and image installation, photography, and performative lectures. He ...

, Janice King, Janine Vega, Mikhail Horowitz and Nancy Ostrovsky. She led her own quartet and was the co-leader of a quartet with Sumi Tonooka. In 1989, her debut album ''Dreamer'' was recorded for

Candid Records Candid Records was a jazz record label first established in New York City. Early Candid Records The CANDID jazz label was founded in New York City in 1960 as a subsidiary of Cadence Records, owned by Archie Bleyer. The jazz writer and civil righ ...

, with contributions from

Robin Eubanks Robin Eubanks (born October 25, 1955) is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. Younger brother Shane Eubanks, twin to Duane Eubanks, is a DJ. His uncles are jazz p ...

, Howard Johnson, Francesca Tanksley, and Anthony Cox. In the 1990s and 2000s, Lindsay played with

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American List of jazz saxophonists, jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano saxophone, soprano and flute. D ...

Baikida Carroll Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947) is an American jazz trumpeter. Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he dir ...

, Howard Johnson,

Jeff Siegel Jeff Siegel is an American financial writer, publisher and musician. He is the author of the bestseller ''Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks'' along with Nick Hodge and Chris Nelder and is credited with coining the ...

Thurman Barker Thurman Barker (born January 8, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American jazz drummer. Barker's first professional experience was at age sixteen with Mighty Joe Young. Barker took his bachelor's at Empire State College, then studie ...

and the band Trace Elements. Their album ''Yes – Live at the Rosendale Cafe'' appeared in 2008. She is co-founder of the Artists Recording Collective recording label. Lindsay is visiting Assistant Professor at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

Discography

As leader or co-leader * ''Dreamer'' (Candid, 1989) * ''Yes: Live at the Rosendale Cafe'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2008) * ''Initiation'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2009) with Sumi Tonooka With Alchemy Sound Project * ''Further Explorations'' (Alchemysoundproject, 2016) With

* ''

Door of the Cage ''Door of the Cage'' is an album by trumpeter and composer Baikida Carroll. It was recorded on March 16 and 17, 1994, at Eastside Sound in New York City, and was released in 1995 by Soul Note. On the album, Carroll is joined by saxophonist Erica ...

'' (Soul Note, 1995) * ''

Marionettes on a High Wire ''Marionettes on a High Wire'' is an album by trumpeter and composer Baikida Carroll. It was recorded on September 14 and 15, 2000, at Systems 2 in Brooklyn, New York, and was released in 2001 by OmniTone, Inc. On the album, which features origina ...

'' (OmniTone, 2001) With

* ''Cloth'' (Passin' Thru, 2003) With Jeff Siegel * ''Live in Europe'' (Artists Recording Collective, 2005)

References

External links

Official site

AllAboutJazz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Erica 1955 births Living people American jazz saxophonists Bard College faculty Composers from San Francisco Jazz musicians from San Francisco American women jazz musicians 21st-century American saxophonists American women jazz saxophonists 21st-century American women musicians American women academics