Southpaw drummer Eric Kalb is a versatile musician who enjoys playing groove based music. A devotee of R&B and Soul drumming, his improvisational aesthetic is colored by sudden bursts of rock aggression. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Eric is a multi-faceted studio and touring drummer whose “energetic and exhilarating style” (Jazz Times) keeps him in constant demand.
Over the course of his twenty-year career Kalb has taken to both studio and stage with a dazzling cavalcade of influential and innovative artists. He’s laid it down hard for the supernatural force of Miss Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, the seven-string guitar wizardry of Charlie Hunter, jazz guitarist John Scofield and living organ Legend Dr. Lonnie Smith; to name but a few. Hunter calls Kalb’s drumming “A funky Clyde Stubblefield/ Jabo Starks kinda way of relating (to Jazz) …really cool and refreshing“. Recent recording sessions include soundtracks for the major motion pictures “American Gangster” and “Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story“.
Kalb formed Funk/Rock sensation Deep Banana Blackout shortly thereafter. The band scorched its way through the east Coast Jam band scene, toured with the Allman Brothers and co-billed with Maceo Parker. They still reform yearly to the enraptured chants of a dedicated crowd of followers in the North East.
In May of 2012 Kalb was the drummer for a massive recreation of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On concert at Kennedy Center in Washington DC. This concert featured John Legend, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings and The National Symphony.