Eric Marienthal is a Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz and pop genres. After graduating from high school in Southern California in 1976, he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA where he studied with the saxophone professor, Joe Viola. By the time he left Berklee, Eric had achieved the highest proficiency rating given by the school. In 1995 Eric was awarded the Berklee Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding achievements in contemporary music. He has since gone on to perform in over 65 different countries, recorded 12 solo CDs and has played on hundreds of records, films, television shows and commercial jingles.Marienthal started his professional career in 1980 with famed New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt. After returning to Los Angeles, Eric became a member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band. He recorded 6 CDs with that band and 2 of those CDs were Grammy award winners. Marienthal went on to perform with artists such as Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Patti Austin, David Lee Roth, B.B. King, Patti Labelle, Olivia Newton-John and many others. Six of the songs that Marienthal has recorded have made it to the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and two have made it to #1. His Oasis album hit the top 5 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart. Shortly after that, he was voted one of the year's "Favorite Alto Sax Players" in Jazziz Magazine's Reader's Poll along with David Sanborn and Phil Woods.Artist Description from Wikipedia, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license
