The professor of music had two articles published in a professional saxophone journal.
Professor Thomas Erdmann in the Department of Music had two articles published in the July/August 2015 issue of Saxophone Today.
The first article is on master jazz musician, and president and inventor/designer of saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces, Jody Espina. As a performer, Jody played with the Tommy Dorsey Big Band, as a regular substitute in the pit Orchestras of Broadway, as a featured soloist on three Mirimax film soundtracks and a documentary about Holland, Sex, Drugs and Democracy, as well performance work on TV’s Guiding Light, The Reading Rainbow, and television shows in Japan and Spain. He has recorded with Brilliant Coroners, Feed The Meter, Illuminatti, Splatt, and The Walter Thompson Orchestra. Among the many great artists who have called upon Espina’s talents for live performances are Don Alias, Eddie Arnold, Louis Bellson, Milton Berle, Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, Vic Juris, Patty Page, Charlie Persip, Lew Soloff, Mel Torme’, and Rachel Z. A composer as well, in 2001, Espina received a Meet the Composers grant for his composition, The Universal Symphony. Espina is also the developer/designer of the entire JodyJazz mouthpiece line, and President of the company.
The second article is on classical saxophonist Kenneth Coon. He currently plays the baritone saxophone chair in the Raschèr Quartet. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Coon now lives in Freiburg, Germany. Coon’s beautiful tone, exquisitely honed technique, and musical mastery place him at the top of any discussion of saxophone distinction. One of the countless critics who have praised Coon is
Matthew Guerrieri of The Boston Globe who wrote, “(Coon plays with an) accomplished verve … spot-on and solid.” The Norrländska Socialdmokraten seconded that saying Coon, and all members of the Raschèr Quartet are, “wind players of the highest class.”