Eric Harding

Presently working as an accompanist and leading his own trio Eric is active on the Montreal scene. In the early 1980’s he studied piano with Armas Maiste, Luc Beaugrand and Steve Holt while completing a music degree in Jazz Piano Performance at McGill University. After working in Toronto for two years Eric returned to Montreal and completed a Diploma in Music Education at McGill. In 1998 he received a Canada Council Grant to travel to New York and study piano with Fred Hersch and in 2001 he was the recepient of another Canada Council grant and released his first CD, “Deadline”, as a leader on the Effendi Label. Eric is presently very active on the Montreal scene teaching and playing, and has recorded and performed with Ray Anderson, Slide Hampton, Sonny Fortune, Roddy Alais, Dave Turner and Guido Basso and Charlie Biddle, as well as being a long time member of the Bernard Primeau Jazz Ensemble up until 2002. He has recorded four discs with this group while touring Quebec, Europe and western Canada. They won the Felix Leclerc Award for Best Quebec Jazz Album for 1997 and1998 . Eric can be heard on the CD of guitarist Michael Gauthier (Reflections In Blue), as well as CD’s by Jacques Labelle and Nancy Martinez and a recent recording of Guido Basso and Dave Turner entitled Dedications on the Justin Time label . He is presently touring with Quebec actress and singer Dorothee Berryman and has appeared on her most recent disc "P.S. I Love You" as pianist and musical director. Eric has two discs out under his own name; "Deadline" which was released in 2001on Effendi Records and “Capelton Road” which has been released in September 2006 on the Productions XXI Label. Eric is presently on staff teaching jazz piano and jazz improv at Vanier College.