ERICH AVINGER was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1956 and moved to Houston, Texas at age four, where he grew up. His parents were both musicians, father Thomas a composer and mother JoAnn a singer and artist. Erich studied violin and sang as a boy soprano in his father's church choir, also singing the lead role in Menotti's opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at age eight.Surrounded from birth by the music of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Stravinsky, Bartok, Prokifief and Shostakovitch, Erich was also introduced at an early age to Broadway show tunes and the jazz piano of Andre Previn and Bill Evans. At age twelve Erich taught himself to play guitar from recordings of Hendrix, Clapton, Beck and Allman, performing and writing in local rock, blues and psychedelic bands. He left home in 1969 to be involved with the higher conciousness and music scene at that time, but was picked up by the police and returned to school. In 1973 Erich was introduced to Brasilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos, Egberto Gismonti and Tom Jobim through recordings brought from Brasil by a family friend, and began improvising on piano and nylon-string classical guitar. In 1976 he studied jazz guitar and piano, arranging and composition for a year at Morehead State University in Kentucky, afterwards traveling with rock bands before returning to pursue a career as a freelance rock, jazz and studio guitarist in Houston. In the 80s Erich worked with big bands, the Houston Symphony Pops, Broadway roadshows, top 40, blues, rock, country, jazz and R&B organ groups, and played on numerous recording and jingle sessions at Huey Meaux's Sugarhill Studios as well as teaching jazz and rock guitar at several local colleges and prisons. Following this period Erich took a three year hiatus from performing music to study Eastern and Western Mysticism and Healing Arts before releasing his debut CD "Heart Magic" in 1989. After the release of his second CD "Si" in 1990, Erich moved to Italy for a year where he performed in Verona, Florence and Rome. After his return to the U.S. Erich moved to Taos, New Mexico where he became immersed in Eastern philosophy and music, studying Raga, Indian rhythms and also learning performance of the rare and exquisite sounding bansuri flute. Erich has performed and/or recorded at this time with Krisna Das, Jai Uttal, Phil Hollenbeck, and the group "Taos" which he also produced and engineered. Erich began his return to the guitar and Western musical forms after moving back to Houston in 1995 and recording an inspired live show in Austin, Texas which was released, along with other tracks from New Mexico, as his third CD "Poets, Misfits, Beggars and Shamans" in 2000. During the years 1996 thru 2000 Erich also toured with jazz trumpeter Gary Gazaway (a.k.a. "El Buho"), playing with members of Phish,Walfredo Reyes Jr., and Victor Wooten. Currently Erich is living in Houston, Texas where he plays jazz gigs across the state and has recorded a live CD with jazz vocalist Kellye Gray on which he is featured on his handmade archtop and 10 string classical guitars. Erich is developing material for a solo all-acoustic CD featuring his highly original improvisational approach to the classical guitar and combining Jazz, Brasilian and World Music influences. "An excellent synthesis of all that is the guitar from a jigger of Django, a hint of Hendrix, to moments of Metheny, all overlaid in compositional counterpoint worthy of the masters."-- Kaleidophonics Syndication