Kai Eckhardt

History

Eckhardt picked up the bass guitar at fifteen. His first big break came in 1985 when guitarist Torsten de Winkel brought him into a recording group that included Michael Brecker and Alphonse Mouzon, creating a stir across Europe. He then toured with de Winkel’s band alongside Ernie Watts and Steve Smith, which led to an invitation to join Smith’s American outfit, Vital Information. The two German musicians also performed together on a TV production with Randy Brecker and Simon Phillips. Around the same time, Eckhardt earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and started building a career in the United States, collaborating with Aydin Esen, Stanley Clarke, Tiger Okoshi, and Bob Moses. In 1988, he became part of the John McLaughlin Trio with percussionist Trilok Gurtu; the group toured heavily and cut several albums, including 1992’s Que Alegria. After that, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, shifting his focus to composition while playing with the Billy Cobham International Quartet and Garaj Mahal. His debut album as a leader, Honour Simplicity, Respect the Flow, came out in 2000 and featured Aydın Esen, Courtney Pine, and Zakir Hussain. In 2008, he took part in a UNESCO-endorsed Bimbache Jazz y Raices global encounter project CD and reconnected with de Winkel, which sparked renewed work together in Garaj Mahal and de Winkel’s group Idiot Savants. He also fronts the Kai Eckhardt Band, which released Zeitgeist in 2014, and runs a mentorship program for young musicians. Eckhardt served as co-leader and co-producer of Garaj Mahal, a jam band that performed over 1,000 shows across the US and Canada from 2000 to 2010, put out nine albums, and won the Independent Music Awards in the Jam Band category in 2007. The band stopped touring in August 2011, with no future shows planned.