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 thirty 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, beloved jazz guitarist John Scofield and 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“. His notable recording sessions include soundtracks for the major motion pictures “American Gangster” and “Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story“.

Kalb’s obsession with hitting things began in his tenth year growing up with his family on Long Island, when he picked up some drum sticks and discovered what those around him had long suspected – that God made him funky.  Fueled by his love for the classic rock of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, Eric focused his energies into qualifying for a coveted position at The Cultural Arts Center in Syosset, NY.  It was here, under the tutelage of the late Dave Burns Sr. that he was introduced to Jazz and it’s history as exemplified through Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody.  These influences formed the very bedrock of his style and guided the trajectory of his passion.

After high school Eric took a whirlwind trip through Berklee College of Music. Here he immersed himself in Latin music with the late Ed Uribe, learned through the soaring jazz drumming of John Ramsey and played with musicians from all over the world.  Soon Eric was ready to leave the constraints of formal education and forge his own way ahead. Kalb formed Funk/Rock sensation Deep Banana Blackout shortly thereafter.  The band scorched its way through the national live music 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 Orchestra conducted by Steven Reineke