Michael Ephron Release - Efroditis EP

Michael Ephron the Welsh composer, lyricist and producer of this 5 song EP has had a fascinating musical life. Self taught, first on banjo at age 7 then moving to guitar and keyboards, he played as a solo act all over Europe and the Middle East in his teens. Equally passionate about words, he simultaneously wrote poems and plays.

He was living in NYC at the height of the cultural renaissance in the 1960s and performing as the poet in Poetry and Jazz perfomances. But his love of music in time overwhelmed his love of words and he moved into playing fulltime. In NYC he gained a reputation as an up and coming keyboard player on the avant garde free form jazz scene. Catching the attention of Jimi Hendrix he became a musical collaborator in Hendrix’s experiments around the time Woodstock Festival and after.

Biog

Moving out to the West Coast, he made the decision to move on from experimentation and founded a Funk Band, The Word. They were signed to Strata East Records, Gil Scott Heron’s label and recorded an album for them. In Los Angeles Stevie Wonder heard his compositions and got him a deal with RCA records. But for a while, personal health issues blighted his career. Moving to Asia he became active on the music scene in Manila, and known by musicians for his unusual highly individualized approach to composition.

Genre

His position is that fitting into any one musical genre is not for him; he is at home in any genre with the proviso that the music that preoccupies him be excellent music, be it Jazz, Latin, Country, Heavy Metal or Hip Hop etc. In addition when he composes it should have his very own personal stamp on it.

In the Philippines, he recorded an album of 18 songs, taking 6 years to complete. This EP is comprised of the 5 songs he wrote and produced with Bamboo, the Filipino star who was seeking to expand his musical horizons and heard Michael’s work. It was recorded and produced in the Philippines, Scotland, England, California, New York, Ireland and Cuba with Filipino musicians plus others from Scotland, England, the USA, Poland, Brazil and Cuba. The Album will be available on November 18, released by Watercolour Records.

The Story

There is a narrative in the EP that describes human behaviour gone haywire and its effect on love and our planet, but it is not a message devoid of hope. The next album with the remaining 13 songs will be released in the near future.

"Ephronics" - the studio techniques and production methods of Michael Ephron.

Working with "Bamboo", one of the Philipines greatest singers and showman.