Eric Likkel

Clarinet • Bass Clarinet
Alto Sax • Tenor Sax

Eric Likkel is an active woodwind player in the Puget Sound region, performing across a wide range of genres. He is featured live and on recordings with Origin Records, the Earshot Jazz Festival, Ballard Jazz Walk, Lynden Music Festival, Joy Street Orchestra, Smiling Scandinavians, Hereward, Ben Thomas Tango Project, and his own Crown Hill Combo.

As performer, arranger, and composer, Eric contributes new chamber works through the TORCH Quartet, and helped launch the Common Tone Music Festival in Moscow, Idaho.

Before coming to Seattle in the mid 1990s, Eric graduated from Cincinnati Conservatory. He played with Cedar Point Live Shows, the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, Ernie Krivda’s Fat Tuesday Big Band in Cleveland, and was a member of the American/European Rome Festival Orchestra in Italy.

Eric has been a member of Joy Street since 2009. He plays clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax.

Something that brings Eric joy: “After a gig, driving home, listening to George Shearing and Don Thompson’s 2013 version of I Didn’t Know What Time it Was.”

Favorite dessert: “My Grandma Likkel’s pumpkin pie. I once ate ten pieces at a church basement gathering.”

What Eric likes about playing with Joy Street: “I love our ensemble’s amazing versatility and dexterity,” Eric says. “One minute, we are playing swing music, then a Viennese waltz, followed by a tango, followed by a Beatle’s tune. It is a fun challenge to draw from different skills and experiences, to help each particular song come alive.”

Something surprising about Eric: “I often perform Friday and Saturday nights, but still make it to the pulpit to preach most Sunday mornings. I serve a small Seattle congregation – Emmaus Road Church – who have been coming together since 1997!”