Eric Andrews Jazz

This jazz combo is comprised of a talented team of creative musicians who have been performing together in New England since 2019. Blending traditional jazz elements with contemporary influences, this group creates an immersive musical experience for everyone. They pride themselves on performing and improvising a broad range of jazz standards with versatility.

Eric Andrews

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Eric, the leader and percussionist, has performed throughout New England with many esteemed musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Al Cohn, Marian McPartland, Don Doane, Peter Eldridge, Fred Petra, Freddy Guerra, and Bijon Watson. Eric studied music at the University of Maine at Orono where he performed with Don Stratton’s 20th Century Music Ensemble. He currently performs with the Portland Jazz Orchestra, the New Legacy Swing Band, and several other jazz combos and ensembles. Eric resides in Wells, Maine with his wife, Kathryn.

Doug Leaffer

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Doug, the saxophonist, has performed jazz, blues, pop, R&B, and gospel professionally since the early 1980s. Based near Boston, he has played in East Coast jazz clubs and music venues from Miami to Montreal, also performing in Taiwan and Korea. Doug appears on film with the band featured in Disney’s “The Finest Hours” and is recorded on the movie soundtrack. He opened for (Count Basie saxophonist) Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Big Band and members of the J.Geils Band, and has performed with nationally touring rock tribute bands Foreigners-Journey and Rave-On (Buddy Holly), and with Motown legends Martha Reeves (of the Vandellas) and touring members of the original Temptations. His performance credits also include appearances with acclaimed musician and film score composer David Amram, and a mention in JazzTimes magazine for his album work as a ‘fine (sax) soloist’. Grammy award-winning jazz pianist Bill Cunliffe has called Doug ‘an interesting and soulful player’.

Carl Pehrsson

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Carl, the pianist, has been performing for four decades in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts with many groups of musicians. Some long term gigs have been with New Legacy Swing Band, La Madeleine, and Chronic Jazz Syndrome.

Chrystos “Kit” Demos

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Kit, the bassist, directs the 18-piece Kit Demos Off/Axis Big Band in the seacoast New Hampshire area which explores experimental, Cuban-American, and modern jazz compositions for big band. Over the last 25 years, Kit has performed with Stephen Haynes, Jeff Platz, Pandelis Karayorgis, Jim Hobbes, Junko Fujiwara, Charlie Kohlhase, Kresten Osgood, Daniel Carter, and Pat Battstone. Kit has taught music privately, curated regular free improv performances in Boston, MA, Portland, ME, and currently performs analog electronic music with Angstrom Star, jazz with the Eric Andrews Jazz Quartet, and free improv with the David Haas Coalition of the Willing in Cambridge, MA.

Dave Umstead

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Dave, the trumpeter, is the Band Director at North Middlesex Regional High School in Townsend, MA. He has over twenty-five years of teaching experience from kindergarten through the university level. Dave is a graduate of the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and the University of Louisville in Kentucky with additional musical studies at the University of Hartford, Berkeley College of Music and through Jazz at Lincoln Center. His trumpet performance history includes large and small ensembles of all types, including work with acclaimed musicians at notable venues across New England and beyond. As a composer, Umstead’s pieces have been performed by numerous school ensembles and professional musicians.