Eddie Barbash plays American roots music on alto saxophone. He is a founding member of Jon Batiste Stay Human, the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He has performed with stars in almost every genre: jazz with Wynton Marsalis, classical with Yo-Yo Ma, rock with Lenny Kravitz, country with Vince Gill, funk with Parliament, He brings his horn and sensibility to Texas and Appalachian fiddle tunes, bluegrass, old time, R&B, soul, and classic New Orleans.

He has performed at major festivals worldwide. He debuted at Carnegie Zankel Hall with Stay Human in 2013. His portrait graced the t-shirt for the Newport Jazz Festival two years later. In New York City he has led residencies at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Django, and the Manderley Bar in Chelsea. He has taught master classes at Carnegie Hall.

His luminous sound and creative vitality first caught the attention of legendary drummer Chico Hamilton, who invited him to join his sextet when he was 19 (70 years younger than Chico) and a freshman at The Juilliard School. He began playing with Batiste the same year (2008). New York Times critic Ben Ratliff in a review of a performance at the Rubin Museum that fall described him as “gifted, young and driven.” He was raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, Atlanta, Georgia and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is 28 and lives in Brooklyn.