An acknowledged master of the American Songbook and one of the top performers of popular music working today, Eric Comstock is as entertaining as he is musically savvy, and his audiences feel they’ve been to a terrific party where the music and the stories have been equally great. Eric melds jazz and pop, whether at the piano leading a trio or quartet, or as a standup vocalist. A Resident Artist at New York's legendary Birdland Jazz Club, he will return in early 2024 with Sean Smith on bass and vocalist Barbara Fasano. The trio enjoyed a 2-week Artist Residency at Italy's Monteverdi Tuscany in Autumn of 2022.
With his enviable command of both pop and jazz repertoire, Eric performs and records with some of the world’s finest jazz musicians, such as Andy Bey, Frank Wess, Houston Person, Peter Washington, Wycliffe Gordon, Matt Wilson, Ken Peplowski and Harry Allen. His CDs include No One Knows, All Hart, Young Man Of Manhattan, and bitter/sweet, a vocal/guitar collaboration with Randy Napoleon. Eric also appears as a guest vocalist on Ms. Fasano’s CD Written In The Stars. Eric is the co-creator and star of three critically acclaimed shows which tour coast to coast: Our Sinatra (4 years Off-Broadway); Made for the Movies: A Hollywood Songbook, and Singing Astaire.
Eric is a regular performer at New York’s best nightclubs, and together with his frequent musical partner, Ms. Fasano, he was among the last performers to headline at the Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. Their fast-paced and swinging exploration of the jazz and pop songbooks have audiences standing and cheering from coast to coast. The New York Times’ Stephen Holden raves, “exhilarating” and compares Comstock to one of his idols, Bobby Short. “Mr. Comstock and Ms. Fasano are turning the neighborhood into a hotbed of pleasure.”
Eric's many honors for his performances and recordings include the Triple Crown of NY nightclubs: multiple MAC, Bistro & NY Nightlife Awards. Eric & Barbara are 4-time winners of the MAC Award for Major Duo Artists. And in 2021 they received the Donald F. Smith Award, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Their workshop in the art of performance and song interpretation SING THE TRUTH has enriched the lives and music of hundreds of vocalists. In addition to classes in NY, they have conducted master classes with the Musical Theater department at University of Michigan. They have been guest master teachers with the St. Louis Cabaret Conference, The Michael Feinstein Songbook Initiative in Los Angeles where they coached gifted high school students, and Sanford Meisner's legendary acting conservatory, The Neighborhood Playhouse.
Born in Manhattan and raised in New Jersey, Eric’s New York appearances include Carnegie Hall, Rose Hall, the Allen Room, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Café Sabarsky, Birdland, Iridium and the 92nd Street Y. He has been a frequent headliner at Lincoln Center’s “American Songbook” series, and at concert halls and jazz festivals from coast to coast such as Caramoor, Cooperstown Music Festival, Music Mountain Twilight Jazz, Sheldon Concert Hall and Jazz at the Bistro in St. Louis, and both Kravis Center and the Royal Room at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach.
As a performer and commentator, he has been featured on BBC, Radio France, CBS’s Early Show, CNN’s Showbiz Today, and NPR’s Weekend Edition, Fresh Air, Broadwayt to Main Street, and JazzSet. Published essays include appreciations of Mel Tormé, Cole Porter, Freddy Cole, Bobby Short and E.Y. Harburg. Eric is profiled in Will Friedwald’s Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers.
Eric lives in New York with his wife, vocalist Barbara Fasano.