FOR JEFF EDEN'S PAGE OF GUITAR MUSIC, SEE: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JEFFERICEDENTHIS IS A NEW PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION -- PHOTOS, ETC TO BE ADDED SOON
About Jeff Eden:
No overdubs were used on any of these recordings. These are all solo instrumental performances.
     "Jeff Eden is a 24 year-old musician living in Chicago, Illinois. He was born and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland and studied Central Asian languages at the University of Chicago, where he first encountered forms of Central Asian lute music through his mentor and friend, the musicologist and linguist Dr. Kagan Arik. Eden has since had the profound honor of meeting with several great Central Asian masters of the Kyrgyz komuz and Kazakh dombra, and he has acquired a proficiency in the unusual techniques and diverse rhythms of Central Asian lute music. Eden does not, however, play strictly traditional music from any single region on his komuz, but rather weaves many strands of Central Asian music (and music from elsewhere) into a new and psychedelic musical fabric.
     Eden's clawhammer banjo technique is also unusual-- he combines traditional (albeit relatively rare) 2-finger clawhammer methods with new picking styles of his own creation. He counts the banjo styles of Bill Cornett, Walter Williams, B.F. Shelton and Coleman Blakeslee [to whom 'In the Wilds' is dedicated] among his greatest influences on the instrument, and it is often noted that his picking style incorporates Central Asian lute techniques as well."
     Eden plans to release a record of solo komuz and solo clawhammer banjo music in the near future. In late June of 2008 he released his debut album, "Night and Day Songs for Solo Guitar" (see his separate guitar-music Myspace page). Some early praise for that album:
"****... Beautiful, moody and melodic... a promising talent."
     -Gerald Van Waes, Radio Centraal Belgium + "Psyche van het Folk" online
"Remarkably talented... one of the most mesmerizing and intriguing solo acoustic guitar records so far this year." (Selected as Album of the Week)
     -Mark Ward, 2SER Sydney + "Sideways Through Sound" online
Eden's page of guitar-music can be found at: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JEFFERICEDEN
