Marco Eneidi

Eneidi is one of the most exciting free jazz saxophonists. He plays fast and hard, with a bright tone and fertile imagination; few improvisers have quicker reflexes. Eneidi grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. He began playing clarinet at the age of nine and took up the guitar and bass in high school. As a teenager he played Dixieland clarinet in a local pizzeria. He chose music as a career at the age of 20; by this time he had begun playing the saxophone. His first professional gig was in a band that played jazz and swing tunes at nursing homes in Sonoma County. Eneidi moved to New York in 1981, where he made contact with saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and the members of his band, which at the time included Dennis Charles, Roy Campbell, and William Parker. He subsequently played with Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman, and Bill Dixon, among others. In 1987, Eneidi founded his own label, Botticelli, through which he's issued several albums that include such players as Jackson Krall, Glenn Spearman, and Wadada Leo Smith as sidemen. In the late '90s, Eneidi founded American Jungle Orchestra, a big band of variable personnel and instrumentation.