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

EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS
Jamelie Hassan & Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou and Dan Smoke,  and Lucas Stenning

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & Olivia Mossuto

WEB DESIGN & SOCIAL MEDIA
Tariq Hassan Gordon, Ira Kazi, Olivia Mossuto, Niloufar Salimi,   JoAnna Weil

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

PRINT PUBLICATIONS
Blessy Augustine, Shelley Kopp, Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Andreas Buchwaldt, Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Ira Kazi, Shelley Kopp, Ashar Mobeen, Niloufar Salimi,  Jenna Rose Sands, JoAnna Weil & Michelle Wilson.

OUR STORY

Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. Other former members of the board were: Debrann Eastabrook, Henry Eastabrook, Sharron Forrest, Wyn Geleynse, Janice Gurney, Jean Hay (1929 - 2008), Doug Mitchell, Kim Moodie, Gerard Pas, Peter Rist, Wanda Sawicki, Jean Spence and Jennie White. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website.

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.

Thank you to our partners

E M B A S S Y C U L T U R A L H O U S E . C A

London, Ontario is on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties.