Neumeister, Ed (actually, Edward Paul)
Neumeister, Ed (actually, Edward Paul)
Neumeister, Ed (actually, Edward Paul), jazz trombonist, composer; b. Sept. 1, 1952, Topeka, Kans. His father, Herbert Paul Neumeister, was a trumpeter and conductor in a military band before Ed was born. In 1960, the family moved to Fremont, Calif., near San Francisco. He started playing music in a private band called the Weldonians in Oakland, which mainly performed at football games. At age of 15, he and several members of the Weldonians joined the musicians union and formed their own band to play dances, proms and other functions most weekends. From 1978–80, he performed in Reconstruction with Jerry Garcia, Meri Saunders, and Gaylord Birch and from 1980–81 worked with Lionel Hampton’s band, alongside Curtis Fuller. He played with Buddy Rich (1981), The Duke Ellington Orch., directed by Mercer Ellington (1981–90), the Mel Lewis Jazz Orch. (1981–91), and the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band (1982–85). He has toured Europe, Japan, and the U.S., composing for and performing as guest soloist with bands and orchestras. He also performs in small group concerts and recitals, gives improvisation, musicianship, and brass clinics and leads a quintet and an octet in N.Y. His arrangement of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” was nominated for a Grammy award in 1992. He has received three fellowship grants from the NEA.
—Lewis Porter