Hailed by Jon Batiste as "one of the world’s most important saxophonists," Eddie Barbash was a founding member of the house band for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and currently tours the world with Cory Wong and the Wongnotes. His unmistakable sound is featured on the Oscar- and GRAMMY-winning soundtrack of the 2020 Disney movie Soul. He has performed at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden to the Village Vanguard and has headlined both the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the Umbria Jazz Festival.
Barbash's versatile sound has led him to collaborate with musicians in many styles. At age 18 he joined the sextet of legendary jazz drummer Chico Hamilton and the quintet of emerging jazz star Jon Batiste. In his 20's, he fell in love with American traditional music and began touring with bluegrass phenomenon Sierra Hull. He is a frequent guest with funk band Vulfpeck and indie rocker Sam Evian. In 2016 he performed a duet on national TV with Yo-Yo Ma, and in 2024 he performed the world premiere of "Songs Of Nature," a concerto for saxophone and choir by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec.
Eddie has released four albums: "For Murray and Lillian," a collection of crooning melodies dedicated to his late grandparents, arranged by Kyle Athayde for an octet of four strings and jazz quartet; "Eddie Barbash Live Parts 1-4," a selection of the best performances of six years of leading bands in NYC; and most recently "Live With Jim, Joe, and Dave," a snapshot of one night of improvised music in Brooklyn, recorded directly to tape in one of the borough's hippest local haunts.
Eddie is an alumnus of The Juilliard School and The New School. He was born in West Islip, NY, and was raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, Atlanta, Georgia, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He lives in Nashville.