Edward DeGenaro is a fusion guitarist whose unique mix of bebop and metal sounds, along with a whole lot of the DeGenaro personality, collectively called the “Nude Guitars” sound, has been compared to the likes of Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale, and Steve Vai. Ed’s journey in music began in Germany, where he was born and raised. At an early age, he studied cello but quickly picked up the guitar as his instrument of choice for venting his artistic expression. After receiving a degree in Performance and Teaching from the German National Conservatory of Music in Nuremberg, he worked as a “hired gun” guitarist and session player, performing all over Europe before relocating to Los Angeles, Seattle and back to Los Angeles where he currently resides. His contributions, as a musician and an engineer, include numerous projects with major labels, musicians like Elliott Sharp, Steve Kimock, David Byron Band, Accept, Hammerhead, Alcatraz, and producers David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Robert Palmer) and Roy Thomas Baker. After the critically acclaimed releases Dog House and Less Is Seldom More, Ed is currently producing his next album in which he has teamed up with various artists from the United States, Germany and India.
Ed’s love affair with India began when he visited India in 2010 as a guitar faculty at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music. He toured all over India with his band and also played with numerous Indian musicians. Ed was tremendously impressed and inspired by the Indian sounds and styles and his current album is a clear proof of that where he has collaborated with Indian musicians like Ghatam Karthik and vocalist Ujjayinee Roy.
His previous album Less Is Seldom More pairs Ed with amazing artists like: Ray Gomez (Stanley Clarke, solo artist), Matte Henderson (Mick Karn, Natalie Merchant, Percy Jones, Tony Levin) Ric Fierabracci (Chick Corea/Frank Gambale), Hari Ganglberger (Alex Mahachek), Marco Minnemann (Paul Gilbert/Mike Kenneally/Necrophagist), Anton Pukshansky (Ozomantli/Santana/Helmet), Chuck Rainey (Steely Dan/Aretha Franklin/Louis Armstrong), Chris Taylor (Grover Washington/Celine Dion), Dave Weckl (Chick Corea/Mike Stern/Robert Plant), George Whitty (Brecker Brothers/Santana/Chaka Khan), and a few more surprises. In addition to this Ed also spent a lot of time on the road with his Country band Nathan Chance & North Coast and played for their albums.
The members of Ed’s band are:
Ujjayinee Roy – vocals
Steve Zerlin - Bass
Lyndon Rochelle – Drums and percussions
James Carson - Keyboards
Ujjayinee Roy is a singer, composer and writer from Chennai, India. She has also been the voice behind numerous tracks in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Telegu films and has worked with the likes of A R Rahman and Illayaraja. She has also lent her voice for numerous jingles, ad-films and voice-overs. Her journey in to the world of music began in the small town of Agartala at the age of three when she began training in Hindustani Classical Music. Ujjayinee started performing for All India Radio and Doordarshan Kendra from the age of seven. Later she also started performing in classical concerts and after training in Hindustani for twenty years moved to the city of Bangalore. Since then she has lived in Chennai, Kolkata, Bombay and in the year 2007 re-located in Chennai where she performs and teaches music. She has also been associated with Radio Mirchi, Kolkata as an RJ and producer. She is also a poet, lyricist, composer and columnist. Ujjayinee has judged, been interviewed and has featured in various television shows. She is also a theater artist and performs with a theatre group called The Madras Lights, in Chennai. She has been the founder member of bands like Tribe and Aurko and has been for the last 7 years a part of a musical project called Noize Inc. Ujjayinee has been working and experimenting with various genres of music like electronica, opera, rock, Indian and Western classical, jazz, folk music etc and and her compositions are a clear proof of that.
Ujjayinee met Ed in Chennai and thereby started a new journey for her where she teamed up with him for his next unnamed album and also started touring with him as the vocalist of his band. She has experimented with various styles and genres of music for this project. She has also released her first original compilation which is called “Novocaine For The Soul”. Ujjayinee is also a bharatnatyam danseuse and performs professionally.
Steve (Z-man) Zerlin is a brilliant and versatile bassist, fluent in many styles. He is accomplished as a jazz musician on both electric and acoustic bass and is well versed in Eastern modalities having adapted the bass guitar to Indian music. He has toured India, Europe and extensively throughout the USA and performed with many top artists including Dennis Chambers, Carl Filipiak, Jack DeJohnette, Paul McCandless, Tom Canning, Paul Bollenback, Jeff Coffin, Terrence Disley, guitarist Vinny Valetino and pianist, Jessica Williams. He has also performed with pop artists, Kenny Loggins, The Coasters, The Drifters and The Platters and The Marvelettes,
Steve appears on many CD’s including recordings with Vinny Valentino, Dan Leonard, Fred Hughes, Peter Fraize and innovative Italian trombonist, Gian Carlo Schiafini. He was featured in Jazz Times Magazine for his unique style and abilities.
Steve released his own CD, Still Life, with Ed Sareth and some of Washington DC’s finest musicians, Dan Leonard, Bruce Guttridge, Peter Fraize and Victor Williams. Steve met Ed in India where he was teaching at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music as the bass faculty. Steve started touring with Ed as the bassist of the band and has also collaborated for Ed’s ongoing album.
Lyndon Rochelle is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music. His professional experience includes working with Hank Jones, Yellow Jacketk, Kurt Elling, Sam Kinger, Lawrence Watson, Little Richard, David Fiuczynski, Robin Mckelle, Bill Pierce, Joe Lavano, Ron Mahdi, Phil Wilson, Greg Hopkins, Jetro Da' Silva, Allen Mallet, Jackie Beard, John Arco, Steve Heck, George Duke, Darren Barret, Peter Erskine, Bobby Shew, George Stone, Matt Harris, Remember Rockefeller Jazz Orchestra, the Prometheus Dance Company, Gary Foster and Gary Pratt. Lyndon has performed at the DNC 2004, Dianne Reaves Performance at Symphony Hall, JVC Jazz Festival, Wang Center,and various concerts at California State University at Northridge.
James Carson, a Canadian-American pianist, has developed a strikingly new genre of music—a pristine sonority that mirrors the splendor of the natural world—and is poised to redefine the possibilities of music in the 21st century. His debut recording, Cabin Music, is the fruit of an extraordinary 24-year quest: one that led him to train with some of the greatest artistic minds of the 20th century, but also to travel for two years, overland from Spain to Japan, and spend three years designing, building, and practicing in a strawbale studio-cabin in Northern Alberta. Similar to a master improviser, James has given concert-length performances of never-before-heard music without any preconceived material; at the same time, his performances are so complexly detailed that they rival the infinite beauty and intricacy of natural phenomena. His music transcends the paradigm that once divided creative musicians into improvisers or composers. James is able to play unlimited quantities of individually articulated notes that shimmer and glisten as a unified whole, instantaneously familiar, achingly beautiful, yet also genuinely new. James Carson has been called a “genial genius” (Robert Creeley), a “spiritual wonder” (Joe Maneri), and has generated “astonished joy” in response to his “exceptional pianism” (Milton Babbitt). He divides his time between his cabin and New York City.
What some other folks have to say about Ed!
He swings, he grooves, and that’s all there is to say. - Steve Lukather
You’re actually making music with that fretless, stick with it. - Joe Satriani
I dug the sound, they're are screaming... -Wayne Krantz
You play very interesting lines ... very clean execution as well as very high speeds! -Ray Gomez
Excellent player! -David Torn
You sound great! -Allan Holdsworth
More incrediblism. You are one of the VERY few people that make guitar enjoyable for me these days. -Matte Henderson
I play your CD all the time...it's an amazing piece of work! -Carl Verheyen
That was very impressive! -Henry Kaiser
Your album is amazing man!! Fantastic tones and of course, great playing so congratulations! -Brett Garsed
I like your playing! - Dweezil Zappa
Your music rocks! - Paul Jackson Jr.
There's some heavy right-hand work going on ... you'll need to show me how to do that stuff sometime! -Steve Topping
You have some serious skills my friend! World class chops and tone! ... Bravo! -Chris Poland
I forgot to tell you how great you sound on these tracks. Great tone and some pretty wild ideas. -Don Mock
Send Ed an email at sessions@eddegenaro.com to get the potential session underway. Fees are fixed and only vary depending on the following factors: • guitar solos on one track or more than one; • guitar solos with rhythm tracks; • solo, with rhythm tracks and melody lines. • editing of your tracks • programming Payment in full at the time of transfer of the original files. Deadlines are determined project to project. There is a surcharge for rush jobs.
