Jazz Saxophonist Erly Thornton

playing the saxophone has always been emotionally intense for erly thornton. each performance is a connection that this artist and his audience mutually enjoy! born in nashville into a family with multiple talents: his mother, a m.s. graduate in public administration and a talented paint and charcoal artist, his father a b.s. graduate in civil engineering and a trumpet/flugelhorn player. erly had no choice but to experience a double dose of creativity and professional influence from birth. starting on the sax in the 5th grade, erly was challenged to play in front of his father’s musician friends on weekends to the music of ray charles. his influences started to expand from there: herb alpert, sanborn, grover, najee and his mentor roger williams contributed to jazz. ewf, cameo, kool and the gang contributed to r&b. this created his multi-faceted style. during the middle 80’s erly began playing professionally for the first time in the nashville area. he moved from there to knoxville,