At age nine, Eddie began to study the keyboard, but as he states, “I took up piano when I was in 6th or 7th grade. While in the 8th grade, I heard there was an opening for baritone sax in the school band. It’s kind of funny, I never made much headway on the piano, but I could play tunes within the first night on the sax!” Settling on the tenor sax, Ed began to assimilate the sounds and concepts that pleased him the most. Obviously, his advancement was rapid, for by age 19, he was discovered by Lionel Hampton. With Hampton, he shared the bandstand with Jay Peters and Eddie Chamblee. Young players, as he was, readily understood the complexities of bop playing - but could swing ”Flying Home” for twenty minutes, if necessary.

Ultimately, Eddie journeyed to the secure confines of the gambling and showbiz capitols of the world: Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe - working with every major name in the business. Presently, Eddie is on the BIG TINY LITTLE JAZZ BAND, which has been and still is at every major jazz festival in the country!

Fellow Jazzers, I don’t know how Pat Patterson got Eddie out of Reno, but we are going to have one terrific Sunday with our musicians backing Ed Easton. I can just picture Eddie, Ron and Craig, the “three super reeds”, leading the rest of our musicians.

It’s going to be a mighty nice Jazz Sunday !!!