He calls himself an “itinerant musician and musical disaster relief specialist.” He's performed with the likes of Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein, Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan and, yes, even the New York Yankees, where he reigns as the stadium's weekend organist.
| Ed Alstrom was the winner of the Solo/Duo category in the recent New Jersey IBC competition. He attended Westminster Choir College studying classical organ, then veered off into every imaginable kind of music. He started out playing organ, then piano, guitar and bass, and has been active on all of these in the New York area with many name acts. He realized a childhood dream in 2004 when he became Organist at YANKEE STADIUM, and he’s still there. Ed has released 4 CDs under his own name, the most recent being a blues-centric collection of all originals called ‘Flee Though None Pursue’. |
The album is also filled with the wit and wisdom of Alstrom's masterful songwriting, with an often-otherworldly lyricism devoted to his eloquent storytelling in the eighteen original tracks. The title cut illustrates that internal and external dilemma: “So i remain marooned with this insanely troubled mind / And try to map a future while I run from what's behind / But what's behind me is not there, so what is there left for me to do? / Face eternity uncertain and keep fleeing though none pursue.”
Other themes surface as a question in the sprightly opener, “Be Nice,” with Alstrom asking “I wonder what it might be like / If folks would just be nice.” As if in response to Little Milton's classic “The Blues Is Alright,” Alstrom takes a more introspective view with the organ-fueled “The Blues Ain't All Right” – “Nobody's blues are unimportant / Nobody's misery is trite / Nobody’s served right by sufferin’ - and the blues ain’t never all right.” A slashing slide guitar highlights the melancholy vocal of a deep “Slow Blues” – “Misery has found you - and you just can’t be free / Until you hear these slow slow blues, and then you’re in mighty good company.”
The bouncy shuffle of “The Truth” serves as counterpoint to its message: “On the road to truth you take, there’s only two mistakes: don’t go all the way or don’t even start.” The hypnotic rhythm of “Sick” is reminiscent of the classic Doc Pomus song “Lonely Avenue” by Ray Charles but adds its own lyrical strength: “Sick of livin’ and dyin’ all at the same time / Sick of tryin’ / Sick of cryin’ / Sick of this saga that’s nobody’s drag but mine.”
“Always Near” is a gorgeous, melodic love song with jazzy overtones and lyrics by Kay
Murcer: “Hold my memory, make some new ones, take me on where you go.” “The Record People” is a bit of honky-tonk piano behind a whimsical complaint about the music business: “The record people came tonight; they came to dig my grave.” The uptempo “Sometimes” floats along, followed by the witty take of “Screwed” – “Bein’ a fool’s too expensive - I’m gonna stop gettin’ screwed.” A bit of optimism shows up in.
The easy swinging “Great Notch” describes a favorite watering hole where “You can decompress or just plain debauch.” Then “Fruitcake” rolls in with some New Orleans piano, dedicated to a loopy girlfriend. “Yours Is a Place” is a delicate love song: “I long to live my lifetimes at your place.” More rollicking piano leads into “Success,” which, alas, “just can’t be achieved.” The “Crossfire” of love is a bittersweet ode to lost romance. “I Drunk You Drive” rocks hard with the message of its title. The closer, “Don't Cry at My Funeral,” is a spiritually uplifting conclusion to an album overflowing with thoughtful lyrics: “Don’t cry for me, I’m happy, I’m free / And I won’t be cryin’ for you.”
With Flee Though None Pursue, Ed Alstrom has created a magical lyrical journey crafted with lively, imaginative storytelling that draws you in with his word wizardry and carries you along on his instrumental genius. You are hereby invited along for the joyous ride.
Jim White (a former music writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & now writes the Blues Roadhouse)
| Tracklist: 1. Be Nice! (4:21)1. Be Nice! (4:21)2. Blues Ain't Alright (3:36)3. Slow Blues (4:24)_4. Flee Though None Pursue (6:45)5. The Truth (4:12)6. Sick (3:41)7. Always Near (3:23)8. The Record People (4:13)9» Sometimes (2:50)10. Screwed (6:02) ' ’11. H-O-P-E-L-E-S-S (4:0T12. Great Notch (4:16)13. Fruitcake (4:01) -14. ?5urs Is A Place (4?17) ^15. Success (Was Not To Be Had) (4:08)16. Crossfire Of Love (4:45)17. I Drunk, You Drive (2:43)18. Don't Cry At My Funeral (5:38) |
BIOGRAPHY
Ed Alstrom has had a rich and diverse musical career. Sure, he’s a bluesman, but he’s also been a church organist and choir director, guitarist at a temple, conductor of a mandolin orchestra, Broadway pit musician, winner of a Backstage Bistro Award and a MAC Award nomination on the NY Cabaret Circuit, radio DJ, and keyboard designer for
Casio. Ed has performed with Bette Midler, Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein, Herbie
Hancock, Odetta, Dion, Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, Steely Dan, Blood Sweat and Tears, Jimmy Vivino, Robert Hill, Rob Paparozzi, Hubert Sumlin, John Sebastian, and other notables.
WEBLINKS
- OS: www.edalstrom.com
- FB: www.facebook.com/ealstrom
- FOCUS TRACKS : 2. Blues Ain’t Alright, 5. The Truth, 8. The Record People, 1. Be Nice,
- 10. Screwed, 12. Great Notch .
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