Eddie Gómez

Biography

Gómez emigrated with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. He started on double bass in the New York City school system at the age of eleven and at age thirteen went to the New York City High School of Music & Art. He played in the Newport Festival Youth Band (led by Marshall Brown) from 1959 to 1961, and graduated from Juilliard in 1963.

His résumé includes performances with jazz giants such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, John Coltrane, New York Art Quartet, Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Bruford, Scott LaFaro, Marian McPartland, Paul Bley, Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Steps Ahead, Steve Gadd, Ron Carter, Jeremy Steig, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Al Foster, Chick Corea, Eugenio Toussaint and Carli Muñoz. Time lauded, "Eddie Gómez has the world on his strings." He spent a total of eleven years with the Bill Evans Trio, which included performances in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as dozens of recordings. Two of the Trio's recordings won Grammy awards. In addition, Gómez was a member of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet.

His career mainly consists of working as an accompanist, a position suited for his quick reflexes and flexibility. In addition to working as a studio musician for many famous jazz musicians, he has recorded as a leader for Columbia Records, Projazz and Stretch. Most of his recent recordings as a leader are co-led by the jazz pianist Mark Kramer.

Gómez was also a member of the fusion band Steps Ahead.

In May 2013, Gómez was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. This was the first honorary doctorate granted at the college’s new international campus in Spain.