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Bassist Ed Croft is a 'music encyclopedia' making his name in Buffalo's jazz community

Nick Lippa
/
WBFO

Buffalo's rich history of world class jazz musicians has spawned a new generation of players. One group that best embodies this is the Ed Croft Trio. Croft recently won three 2018 Jazz Buffalo awards, including artist of the year, and brought his bandmates to WBFO's studios to play and talk about their music with reporter Nick Lippa.

Get to know the Ed Croft Trio--

Ed Croft (Bass): Winner of 2018 JazzBuffalo Poll for Best Acoustic Upright Bassist (repeat from 2017), Rising Star, and the John Hunt Jazz Artist of the Year awards. He started his music career playing in NYC before he got his Bachelor's degree in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia in 2013.

Learn more at www.edcroft.com

Joe Goretti (Drums): He studied with Buffalo legend Louis Marino (who played with Billie Holiday, Kai Winding, James Moody, Sunny Stitt, Carmen Mc’Rae, Dina Washington, Della Reese, Lou Rawls, Lou Donaldson, Woody Shaw and Charley Byrd). You can read more about Louis here. With that education, Goretti graduated from the Berklee College of Music and went on to play internationally with artists like Moby and the Temptations.

Learn more at www.joegoretti.com

Nelson Rivera (Saxophone): Buffalo born and bred with self-proclaimed "blue cheese" running through his veins, Rivera plays in several groups in the area and is the most recent member of the trio. He graduated from Clarence High School before playing alongisde local greats at UB like Dave Schiavone.

ed_croft_for_air_mixdown.mp3
A shorter, brief introduction to who the members of the Ed Croft Trio are.

Here are the songs the Ed Croft Trio recorded at WBFO--

softly_as_a_morning_sunrise_take_two-_ed_croft_trio.mp3
Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise

there_is_no_greater_love-_ed_croft_trio.mp3
There Is No Greater Love

strivers_row_take_2-_ed_croft_trio.mp3
Strivers' Row

atc_theme-_ed_croft_trio.mp3
The All Things Considered Theme performed by The Ed Croft Trio

Credit Nick Lippa / WBFO
/
WBFO

Nick Lippa leads our Arts & Culture Coverage, and is also the lead reporter for the station's Mental Health Initiative, profiling the struggles and triumphs of those who battle mental health issues and the related stigma that can come from it.
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