Ed Alstrom
Director of Music/ Organist
Ed Alstrom joined with Central in September of 2016. Ed grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey and started playing organ and piano at age 5, and guitar and bass as a teenager. He attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and graduated with a B.M. in Organ Performance. He has previously played and directed at churches in Westfield, Morristown, West Caldwell, Verona, and Ridgewood. He has written and arranged many sacred choral pieces and cantatas, some of which are performed at Central.
See/hear a sample:
'Kyrie - Message From Micah' from the Cantata
PURPLE DUSK AT THE MARGINS, written by Edward Alstrom, performed by Central Choir & Friends, June 24, 2018
Ed has had a rich and varied music career in many genres, playing around the area in jazz, pop, rock, gospel, and blues formats. He has appeared on stage with the likes of Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Chuck Berry, Ronnie Spector, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Marvin Hamlisch, and many others. Ed has extensive experience in the musical pits of Broadway and off-Broadway, and on the NY Cabaret circuit, where he has garnered several prestigious awards.
He has recorded 4 CDs with his own groups, and played on many others. He was an On-Air Host from two radio shows at radio station WFDU-FM (89.1 FM – wfdu.fm) in Teaneck. And he plays the organ for the New York Yankees, for whom he has been Weekend Organist since 2004.
Details of Ed’s personal goings-on and local gigs are on his website, www.edalstrom.com.