View source for Ed Alstrom

{{Short description|American stadium organist}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ed Alstrom
| image              = Ed_Alstrom_at_the_Hammond_Organ.jpg
| caption            = Alstrom in 2005 at the Hammond Organ
| birth_name         =
| birth_date         = October 12, 1957
| birth_place        = [[Paterson, New Jersey]]
| occupation         = Stadium Organist • Church music director
| organization       = [[New York  Yankees]], [[Major League Baseball|MLB]]
| title              =
|website     = {{URL|https://www.edalstrom.com/}}
}}
'''Edward Alstrom'''  (born October 12, 1957) is an American musician best known for being the stadium organist for the [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[New York Yankees]].
==Early life and education==
Alstrom was born to Eleanor "Petty" (nee Bissinger) and Ludwig "Eddie" Alstrom in Paterson, New Jersey.<ref name="Legacy">{{cite web | title=Eleanor Alstrom Obituary (2011) | website=Legacy.com | date=2011-05-08 | url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/northjersey/name/eleanor-alstrom-obituary?id=23309118 | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> He was raised in [[Ridgewood, New Jersey]].<ref name="Star">{{cite web | last=Stewart | first=Zan | title=Yankees organist Ed Alstrom releases ambitious album | website=NJ.com | date=2010-05-21 | url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2010/05/yankees_organist_ed_alstrom_re.html | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> He began practicing playing the organ at home on his family’s Hammond M-3 at the age of five.<ref name="Gryb">{{cite web | last=Grybowski | first=Adam | title=As the Yankees' organist, Westminster alumnus sets the tone for America's pastime | website=Rider University | date=2023-06-22 | url=https://www.rider.edu/about/news/yankees-organist-westminster-alumnus-sets-tone-americas-pastime | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> He learned to play guitar, drums and bass as a teenager.<ref name="Gryb" /> He enrolled at [[Westminster Choir College]] at what is now Rider University in 1975 with a declared major of organ performance and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in classical organ.<ref name="Gryb" /><ref name="Star" /> While he was attending school he was also playing music in bars in North Jersey, "disco, rock, country music, and jazz gigs."<ref name="Wiener">{{cite web | last=Wiener | first=Robert | title=Multifaceted musician has new gig at Golda Och Academy | website=New Jersey Jewish News | date=2017-10-18 | url=https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/multifaceted-musician-has-new-gig-at-golda-och-academy/ | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> Alstrom worked at [[Casio]] in Dover, New Jersey as the Product/Marketing Manager for the Keyboard Division from 1985 through 2003. He assisted with Casio's [[Research_and_development|R&D]] in Japan, composed and arranged the music that went into the keyboards, and produced a video for Casio entitled "Play Electronic Keyboard Today."<ref name="casio">{{cite web |title=Video Cassettes (VHS Tapes) |url=https://casiokeyboardjunkyard.com/ |website=Casio Keyboard Junkyard |access-date=19 November 2023}}</ref>
He lives in [[Montville, New Jersey]], where he has been married to music educator and pianist Maxine Alstrom since 1985.<ref name="Havsy">{{cite web | last=Havsy | first=Jane | title=Montville resident is man behind music at Yankee Stadium | website=Daily Record | date=2014-08-17 | url=https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/2014/08/17/montville-resident-man-behind-music-yankee-stadium/14135493/ | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref><ref name="Wiener" /> They have two daughters, Sophie and Nina.<ref name="Kaulessar">{{cite web | last=Kaulessar | first=Ricardo | title=The spiritual and the soulful will collide at Montclair performance | website=Bergen Record | date=2018-06-12 | url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/essex/montclair/2018/06/11/spiritual-and-soulful-collide-montclair-performance/691072002/ | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref>
==Career==
[[File:Ed Alstrom at the organ (cropped).jpg|thumb|Screen at the old Yankee Stadium featuring Alstrom's name]]
Alstrom describes himself as an "itinerant musician" and has played for synagogues, churches, feature films, Broadway musicals and at Yankee Stadium. He has performed with [[Chuck Berry]], [[Leonard Bernstein]], [[Bette Midler]], [[Herbie Hancock]], and [[Steely Dan]].<ref name="Tommasini">{{cite web | last=Tommasini | first=Anthony | title=The Yankees, a Summer Symphony in 9 Innings | website=The New York Times | date=2011-07-20 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/arts/music/the-yankees-a-summer-symphony-in-9-innings.html | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref><ref name="Lortel9">{{cite web | title=Ed Alstrom | website=Internet Off-Broadway Database| url=http://www.iobdb.com/CreditableEntity/20203 |access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref><ref name="Wiener" /><ref name="Steely Dan Database">{{cite web | title=Steely Dan Database: release info of New York Nights | website=Steely Dan Database | date=1992-04-03 | url=http://www.steelydan.nl/releaseinfo.jsp?id=1048 | access-date=2023-11-21}}</ref> He played in the pit bands for "Leader of the Pack" and "Hairspray."<ref name="Wiener" /><ref name="Briadway2">{{cite web | author=The Broadway League | title=Leader of the Pack – Broadway Musical – Original | website=IBDB | date=1985-04-08 | url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/leader-of-the-pack-4367 | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref>  He is in a trio called Acid Cabaret which formed in 1997.<ref name="Wiener" /> He won a Back Stage Bistro Award for Singer/Songwriter/Instrumentalist in 2003 for his work with Acid Cabaret.<ref name="Eaker">{{cite web | last=Eaker | first=Sherry | title=The 18th Annual Bistro Awards— And the Winner Is... | website=backstage.com | date=2003-02-26 | url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/th-annual-bistro-awards-winner-1-48414/ | access-date=2023-11-21}}</ref>
In 2004 Alstrom took over for Yankees’ longtime organist, [[Eddie Layton]], who retired after 37 years with the team.<ref name="Gryb" /> He plays at weekend home games for the team at [[Yankee Stadium]] and was interviewed for the position by Layton himself.<ref name="Havsy" /><ref name="Star2">{{cite web | last=Star-Ledger | first=Jeff Diamant/The | title=Yankee Stadium organist from Montville starts second gig at Morristown church | website=nj | date=2009-11-19 | url=https://www.nj.com/news/2009/11/yankee_stadium_organist_from_m.html | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> Layton asked him to perform "[[Theme_from_New_York,_New_York|New York, New York]]," "[[Take Me Out to the Ballgame]]," "[[Happy_Birthday_to_You|Happy Birthday]]," "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]," and "[[O Canada]]" in an audition that Alstrom says took five minutes.<ref name="Winick">{{cite web | last=Winick | first=Stephen | title=Baseball Americana (December 2009) | website=Library of Congress Information Bulletin | url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0912/baseball.html | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> He played at the final game at the old [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] on Sept. 21, 2008, playing "[[Goodnight_Sweetheart_(Ray_Noble,_Jimmy_Campbell_and_Reg_Connelly_song)|Goodnight, Sweetheart]]" among other music.<ref name="Star2" />
Alstrom plays a 15-minute solo spot before games begin.<ref name="Gryb" /> He always leads off with "New York, New York." and then plays an assortment of standards, classic songs, and current hits.<ref name="Gryb" /> While much of the organ music during baseball games follows a framework, Alstrom discusses the need to be flexible on the job, saying, "You have to be alert and react to what’s happening and think several steps ahead... You have to know the game and be thinking all the time."<ref name="Gryb" /> He played for the Yankees’ victory over the [[Los Angeles Angels]] in the [[American League Championship Series]] in 2009, and subsequently played for Game 1 of the World Series, when the [[Philadelphia_Phillies|Phillies]] beat the Yankees.<ref name="Star2" /> ''New York Times'' music critic [[Anthony Tommasini]], on hearing Alstrom playing in the new Yankee Stadium, said "I wish the Yankees would let their organists play more."<ref name="Tommasini" />
Alstrom has been the music director of Central Presbyterian Church in [[Montclair, New Jersey]], since 2016.<ref name="Gryb" /> He also is an accompanist—in piano, guitar, and organ—and choir director at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was a music teacher and choir director at Golda Och Academy in [[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]] from 2017–19, where he worked to get his students out of the mindset that "this is their grandparents’ music."<ref name="Kaulessar" /><ref name="Wiener" /> He worked at Essex Valley School in West Caldwell, New Jersey from 2019–2021, and at Warren Middle School in 2022.
Alstrom creates solo compositions, including a "jazz mass" which combines hymnal texts, poetry and 1970s free-form jazz music.<ref name="Kaulessar" /> Alstrom wanted to depart from traditional compositions, saying "I just wanted to find a way to do a jazz mass that was not the usual way that was done... The standard jazz mass form... adopts the Latin text and puts some swing beats behind it."<ref name="Kaulessar" /> Alstrom played the organ for the [[Jackie Robinson]] biopic ''[[42 (film)|42]]''. He was asked to try to sound like [[Gladys Goodding]], the organist for the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] at [[Ebbets Field]].<ref name="Alterman">{{cite web | last=Alterman | first=Elizabeth | title=Music of Westfield Organist Featured in '42' | website=Westfield, NJ Patch | date=2013-05-31 | url=https://patch.com/new-jersey/westfield/music-of-westfield-organist-featured-in-42 | access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref>
==Discography==
* ''Peter Hofmann – Live 86'' (Arranger, CBS, 1986)
* ''The Record People Are Coming'' (Haywire, 1996)
* ''Acid Cabaret'' (Haywire, 2002)
* ''Gettin’ Organ-ized'' (Haywire, 2010)
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.edalstrom.com/ Personal website]
{{Stadium_organists}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alstrom. Ed}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Stadium organists]]
[[Category:21st-century American organists]]
[[Category:21st-century American keyboardists]]
[[Category:New York Yankees personnel]]
[[Category:1957 births]]