Russ Gershon

Jazz
Rock

Russ Gershon is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, educator and record company founder. He has been based in the Boston area since the late 1970’s.

His work with the Either/Orchestra, the ten piece jazz/Latin/Ethiopian band he founded in 1986 has earned him a Grammy nomination, endless critical accolades, and performances around the world. The E/O has released ten albums and a DVD, with two new records slated for release in the near future.

Gershon and the E/O have collaborated with the greats of Ethiopian music, including Mahmoud Ahmed, Teshome Mitiku, and Mulatu Astatke, who recorded Russ’ composition “Azmari” with his own band. The E/O’s 2004 concert in Addis Ababa was released as a double CD on the Ethiopiques from France, the only album by a non-Ethiopian group included in this prestigious series.

As well as playing regularly with his trio, Gershon also music directs, plays and sings in Lookie Lookie, an eight piece band devoted to the revival of 1960’s Latin Bugalu music. He does regular work as a studio player and arranger for rock, pop, commercial and jazz recordings. In recent years he has been a leader, arranger or player in projects devoted to David Bowie’s “Blackstar,” Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Marvin Gaye and Rickie Lee Jones. He has performed with Cab Calloway, the Four Tops, Medeski Martin & Wood, the Boston Pops and others.

Gershon has taught music history at Lasell College and instruments and band in Brookline and Nahant Massachusetts schools. He has also served as a visiting clinician or artist-in-residence at Harvard, New England Conservatory, Berklee, Tufts and numerous other colleges across the US.

As founder of Accurate Records, Gershon has helped bring over 100 albums to the marketplace, for artists as diverse as Medeski Martin & Wood, Morphine, the Alloy Orchestra and the Ghost Train Orchestra. Accurate released Josh Roseman’s “New Constellations” in the US market.