Meet Eric Hirschhorn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Hirschhorn.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Music was always there. When I was a baby, my father would sing constant pitches or play guitar and I would instantly fall sleep in peace. When he would play his local shows in Long Beach, which he still does today, I would crawl on the stage and around the dance floor.

I’d hop onstage as I grew and sang along with him, and even now I’ll still play with them when I can. It was all I knew. I was bad at sports so it ended up being the only thing I wanted to do. I started piano at age 4 with Barry Cogert, who would later go on to create the “Jazz Angels” program, which teaches young kids in grade school jazz. I began elementary school in the Orange County School District, I was usually enrolled in a choir of some kind. Also, I was in a program which I played electric bass in. It was that for extracurricular activities or be really bad at sports like I said, which I still ended up doing. I was taking private piano and vocal lessons with another teacher at this point and continued to train theory and technical abilities. It was at Oak Middle School where everything changed for me.

In the band program on the first day of middle school, we went around the room saying our names and what instrument we played. I said “I’m Eric Hirschhorn and I want to play bass”. The teacher replied with “Please pick a band instrument”, and I responded, without knowing what I was getting myself into. I chose saxophone, and that teacher was promptly fired a couple of weeks into the school year. I didn’t know anything about that hunk of metal, but I stuck with it, mainly because of three things. The first was my new teacher, Justin Padilla. There was something incredibly special about Mr. Padilla. He was this larger than life, superstar human who could make the worst trouble maker in class play an instrument and have fun while still being able to express themselves. You just wanted to be like him. He shined so bright on the bandstand and created such strong friendships between students. He formed the first real jazz band at that school that wasn’t a club, and I was lucky enough to join, even at my terrible level. Fast forward two years, the jazz band had started to play concerts outside of school and participated in local jazz festivals.

These festivals for schools double for competitions and bands get scored and awarded with a 1st-10th place with soloist awards. Even cooler than that, we actually won some of them. Looking back, you can see how this is the non-artist board of directors way of seeing an art program’s success and it ramps the students up like a sporting event. It makes kids practice and practice we did. We ended up beating out our rival school for the first time ever at the renown Reno Jazz Festival. In this program, I really developed a huge love for performing, and Mr. Padilla was a major contributor to this. Saxophone was now my chosen path. I went to the locally known Arrowbear Music Camp where you go the mountains of SoCal and sleep in bunkbeds in cabins and play classical music three times a day every day. Summer camp stuff for musicians, you know? Band camp I guess is right term. I played my first gig at Bogart’s Coffee House in 2008 and made $5. Classic right?

When entering school at Los Alamitos High, I actually didn’t get accepted into the jazz band. John Rush, the director of music there, thought I was cocky, not dedicated, and lacked the qualities to be in his program. To be honest, I was skateboarding and going to the beach every day during summer. I finally gained confidence and was hanging with “cool kids”. Luckily, he gave me a second chance and I somehow got in despite my terrible attitude and work ethic. Thank God for that, because it gave me the chance to keep going and lead me to playing more festivals and gave me time to learn from new teachers. I began to apply what I had learned on saxophone to piano and taught myself how to play jazz piano, forgoing all of my classical technique and chops. I attended the Berklee College of Music 5-Week program in Boston, where I went from being the big fish to being a very very small fish. I was astounded by what some of these kids the same age as me and older cats could do. It was a major wake up call. I began to write furiously and practice like never before. I got the chance to play with artists such as John Mayer and Wyclef Jean to name a few. All of this was like a fire had been ignited under me. What was I doing all this time? Why didn’t I actually want to practice? I went home after this experience a whole new human being with a completely different mindset. I can honestly say it was here that I started truly wanting to play music.

A friend I made in biology class named Aaron Argueta asked me as to join his reggae band in high school. I didn’t know anything about reggae music except the standard stereotypes. He came in the next day with a stack of burn data discs of reggae A-Z. Little did I know this band and friendship would carve out the rest of my life today. We formed a band with our first show at the Key Club opening for reggae legend Don Carlos. This band began playing next to other local reggae acts and slowly dissolved and the remaining members including Aaron and I, including Dhillon Taylor our keyboardist, joined a band called Sono Vero. It was in this band that we gained traction and began touring, playing KROQ events, the whole House of Blues circuit, opening for acts like Katchafire, Groundation, Tribal Seeds, and other local/touring acts who were our friends. We would have older sisters of people in the band call into our high school and pretend to be Mom’s so we could get out of classes and do a quick tour run. Irresponsible or dedicated, you decide. I had fallen in love with reggae music and the deep lessons it held. We released an EP and soon after, my horn section that I formed was picked up by Tribal Seeds, a San Diego-based reggae band that is still quite established today, and we began playing bigger shows with bigger artists.

After the split with Sono Vero, I graduated high school and attended the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University of Long Beach, under the direction of Jeff Jarvis. I continued to improve and practice. It was here the second main reason for my encouragement. The musicians at this program changed my life. I learned to love jazz from my friends and we all supported each other no matter what circumstance. We’d give each other gigs, vent about teachers, and all grew exponentially as players just by osmosis and learning from each other. It was the healthiest and most supportive group of people I had ever met. We all sustained our 4-5 years of grueling schooling to go on into the real world. It was here that I began to tour and record for artists around LA and Orange County. I had the chance to play with Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Nahko & Medicine for the People, Matisyahu, and many others. In 2016, I was picked up by Rebelution, and they are currently who I play with on tour most of the year. I recorded saxophone on their recent release “Free Rein”. I also released my own jazz album in January of 2017.

I know I said three things encouraged me earlier, and that second one was my parents. Eva and Bob, still as supportive as ever, have always been there. They went to every show for school, every high school band I was in, and even now playing shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and others, they still come when they can. At the current age of 25 (when this was written), I couldn’t be more proud to say that my parents are in the audience. My mom came to America from Mexico when she was 19, my dad a Jewish Long Beach native, it’s an honor to have always had their love and support. Nothing else is better for a growing musician than encouraging, aware parents, role models, and friends that raise you up and encourage you to strive for the stars.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have definitely been some bumps in the road. For the longest time, I was touring with bands who were all over twenty-one when I was fifteen or sixteen. I would have to sit outside of the club in a car or be locked up in the green room doing my math homework. Sometimes they wouldn’t even let me inside the club to play, which was really whack. Deciding whether to stay in college or tour was a tough one as well. I wanted to head on the road with my band as soon as I graduated high school, but my mom was adamant about having me get that degree. I never agreed but did it anyways. Boy, was I wrong. I made so much musical growth and gained friends that I will remain close with for the rest of my life. I found my voice in composing music, I stored songs in my memory banks, I became so much better on my instruments. But that didn’t come with ease. It was hard, very hard.

Our director forced me to shave my beard, denied me opportunities to play some of the biggest gigs of my life because he saw the program as more important, drove me to anger and tears multiple times from feelings of never being enough or just plain being the worst musician on the planet and encouraging me to give up. But I didn’t. I stuck with my friends, tears and all, and they taught me who I could really be. Am I mad about that kind of demeaning and damaging language? Not anymore. It was a big training in keeping your word. I committed to going to school and being fully in a jazz program. If I were to just throw my word to the wayside, where else would that bad habit manifest itself? People can be and say what they want, but your own beliefs and journey are what build you and cause you to grow. Everything is a reaction to a past event or structure we’ve developed over time. I could’ve rolled over and given up, but I didn’t. I fought through and now, I’m playing amazing, life-changing venues and concerts in a genre of music that gives music joy and an inspiration to make a difference in the world.

Another interesting struggle that I’ve experienced has been being both Jewish and Mexican. Going to school in Orange County, I’m sure you could infer the issues with Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists surrounding the area. I would get beat up in neighborhoods. I’ve been blindfolded and thrown in the back of raised F150’s with American flags in the back and dumped on lawns after being kicked and beaten. I was an abomination to families and students all throughout middle and high school. What can you do in those situations? Steel yourself and don’t allow these dark events to control and rule your life as you move along. They happened to you, they are not you. That doesn’t mean you need to deny your anger and sadness. It means you are not defined by the scarring occurrences you experience. You have the power change and choose who you are and what you stand for. I’ve been held at gunpoint at Cumbia gigs, racially profiled by police and TSA. It’s important to know these things exist and are happening, and I am a standing example that anyone can make it out of these dangerous and terrifying times. On the other side of racism from those groups, I’ve experienced a denial of my Mexican descent for my lack of Spanish speaking. Certain musical groups won’t hire me because I’m not “Latin enough”. That equally is really scarring. It comes from all angles and we as a people, need to stand up and unite.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a freelancing musician based in Long Beach, CA. I specialize in woodwinds, composition/arranging, and touring. Being as I’ve been playing music for most of my life, I fully dedicate myself to this art and practice. I perform in many genres as a trained musician. When I go to a gig for a certain genre, I immerse myself in the culture and styles. I can play jazz, funk, R&B, trap, neo-soul, salsa, baile funk, J-Pop, pop-punk, you name it. I care about our livelihood as musicians and want our work to mean more than just “music”. I stand for the possibility of uniting the world through music. No matter what genre or style, music always has to win. I want to see a Hardcore lover standing next to a principle violinist in an audience both smiling and feeling that sense of togetherness. We have that duty as musicians, and we hold that power to move someone.

Whether it’s tears, joy, laughter, we have an innate and unique ability to convey our feelings through sounds and directly influence someone’s life. So every time I step onstage, it’s more than just another gig or paycheck. That show is an opportunity to change someone’s life forever. That stand gives every show a whole new meaning and experience. It’s a reality that gets me excited to live into every morning I wake up. I am pulling from my life experiences and paying respect to my influences and predecessors who have graced the grand stage. When I go onstage, my ancestors and teachers are standing there with me. I’ve played music around the world and in many hallowed venues, and I plan on continuing to do so until the day that my hands crumble to dust and my final breath has left my body.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Man, what a tough question. It’s really hard to even consider that. Without the hardships I experienced, I wouldn’t have grown whatsoever. If I didn’t find my love for music when I did, I may have never found it. If I didn’t bail on music for cool kids and skating, I would’ve never gained my confidence and comfort in the real world. You can’t tell a kid, “Hey, little boy, start loving music, NOW!” So it’s really hard to even fathom what I would’ve changed. I honestly can say that whatever has happened in my life happened and the way I am known is something I am proud of. It’s kind of like asking, “What’s your biggest regret?” Again, how can I answer that? Sure there are small mistakes I made as a kid, but man, aren’t those just the best learning tools you can experience? I wish I could’ve played music for my grandparents. I never got to meet both of my grandpas, and my grandmothers died before I was old enough to really know them. You can’t undo death, so there’s that. Maybe something I would’ve done differently would be not answering this question with so many questions. Why did I do that? Haha

Contact Info:

• Website: www.erichirschhornmusic.com
• Email: [email protected]

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