Eric Stach

Eric Stach, jazz musician

Left to right: Rob Bell (drums), David Lee (upright bass), Eric Stach (soprano and alto saxophones) and sketching everybody, every Thursday night without fail, Don Vincent. Print by Ruth Strebe, 1991

One of the founders of the Embassy Cultural House (ECH) and noted London musician Eric Stach played jazz with Free Music Unit performers every Thursday night at the ECH. Soprano saxophonist Stach is a leading Canadian protagonist of the avant garde jazz of the sixties and seventies, which is characterized by a reliance on composition and improvisation. Jazz flourished in London at such venues as the York Hotel, Victoria Tavern, Wonderland Gardens, Marienbad Restaurant, Forest City Gallery and, of course, Embassy Cultural House where Stach was music programmer. Stach has been active in London for forty years with groups such as the London Experimental Jazz Quartet, Big Band, and the Eric Stach Free Music Unit. Visit the Eric Stach Music channel on YouTube.

Collection of posters and news clippings of Eric Stach's Free Music Unit
Many thanks to London musician Paul Aitken, who has made available his personal archive of posters, promotional pamphlets, and press clippings that he received from Eric Stach almost 30 years ago. Eric was a huge influence on Paul as a developing musician, and Paul went on to run similar music projects of his own over the intervening years. Paul's current project is influenced by Eric's free improvisation is the trio Aitken | Clark | Peacock, which you can learn about and listen/watch here.

Eric Stach on the web

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The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.