(steady blues music) [Announcer] The Salt and Pepper Roots Music Celebration recorded live in Florence, Alabama at the University of North Alabama.

(steady blues music continues) (steady blues music continues) (lively jazz music) Tonight, the music of jazz master Eric Essix, as he talks about his influences, his first guitar, and the Beatles.

(lively jazz music continues) This program is made possible in part by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Additional support provided by the Alabama Folklife Association.

Wes Montgomery was the first guitarist that I heard that played jazz.

And he was my gateway into jazz music.

From Wes, it was Jimmy Hendrix.

Jimmy had a huge influence on me, so much so that I thought that I wanted to be the next Jimmy Hendricks after he passed.

And after Jimmy, I latched on to George Benson for the rest of my life, from 1977 on.

-("Creole Strut" by Eric Essix) -(audience applauding) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) ("Creole Strut" continues) -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) Thank you.

(applause continues) Good to be back home.

Yeah.

Thank you so much guys for coming out.

Please put your hands together for Mr. Sean Michael Ray on bass, -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) Mr. Joseph Stallworth on the keyboard, -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) and James "PJ" Spragins on the drums.

-(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) Just growing up in the South, the cool thing about it is there are several different kinds of roots music that I grew up exposed to: Gospel, Blues, for sure, and spirituals.

I sang in the choir at my church and we did a number of negro spirituals that greatly influenced me.

I've recorded a bunch of them just because I think they're probably one of the most elegant forms of music in their simplicity.

("People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) ("People Get Ready" continues) I was one of the millions of young people who saw that as kids and was inspired to pick up the guitar.

I always loved that moment because we don't have those kinds of moments now.

Back then everybody on Sunday night watched "The Ed Sullivan Show."

And so it was a collective moment for so many people, that one moment when The Beatles came on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

And I was just one of many who saw those guys and saw those guitars and what they were doing.

They just looked cool and they sounded great and they were funny.

And even at five years old, it made an impression on me.

It made me wanna pick up the guitar.

("Sundress Sunday" by Eric Essix) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) ("Sundress Sunday" continues) -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) Thank you.

"I'll buy you this guitar "if you promise to stick with it "and continue to play it," 'cause he had bought piano for his daughters, none of them continued to play the piano.

So he has a beautiful piano in the living room that nobody played.

So he said, "I'll buy you a guitar "if you promise promised to play it."

And so, I kind of stuck with it.

I wish he was still here to see it, but yeah.

("Wichita Lineman" by Jim Webb) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) ("Wichita Lineman" continues) -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) Yeah, when I first started out, I thought that I wanted to be a jazz guitar player, and I'd seen a bunch of different jazz rock groups.

At the time, they would call them fusion in the seventies.

And I thought that that's the kind of music that I wanted to play.

Which I did play for a while and really enjoyed it.

About 1999, after my third or fourth record had come out, I decided that that really wasn't who I was musically and I began to search for who I was, and said, "You know what?

"I grew up playing music in the church.

"And I love Gospel, I love the Blues.

"I love jazz, too.

"Let's mix them all together."

("Gravitate" by Eric Essix) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) Mr. Sean Michael Ray.

-(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) ("Gravitate" continues) Well, I grew up playing guitar in the church, so Gospel music, Southern Gospel music and all its forms deeply influenced me musically, and it's still a very prominent, I think, genre of music that comes out in what I write and record and play live.

("This Little Light of Mine" arr.

by Eric Essix) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) ("This Little Light of Mine" continues) -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) ("In A Sentimental Mood" by Duke Ellington) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) That's Mr. Joseph Stallworth on the keyboards, y'all.

(audience applauding) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) ("In A Sentimental Mood" continues) -(audience applauding) -(audience cheering) ("Foot Soldiers" by Eric Essix) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" continues) ("Foot Soldiers" fades out) (no audio) [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Additional support provided by the Alabama Folklife Association.