Ed Summerlin is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicians I've ever heard perform. I was lucky to know him and share a few gigs here and there. Ed passed on in October 2006 but his spirit lives strongly through those he touched. It all started when he ran away from home at age 16 and joined the circus...

rehearsing with Charlie & Ed circa 1987  ©   Jon Margolis

A few years ago Ed came out west to visit me and we played a jazz festival here. He arrived on a BMW motorcycle with a sidecar that carried his sax. Later his wife Karen flew out from NY and saved me from his wrath. Those were good times. 

Ed Summerlin gets sounds out of his horn like no one I know. I played in a rehearsal band with him and Charlie Kniceley in Rosendale, NY in the eighties. We gigged a handful of times and it was always a gas. He's been a respected avant-gardest since the sixties. Today Ed is gaining wider recognition as a phenomenol player, writer, and arranger due to a couple of CDs he released on Ictus Records; Eye on the Future (sextet) and Sum of the Parts (quintet). He has garnered rave reviews from a number of jazz magazines.

Ed & Karen 1992