Traditionally composed but anything but traditional in approach, the Ecco Mandolin Ensemble explores the translation of all typed of music into the mandolin voice. From classical to classic rock, trad to black metal and everything in between, the Ecco Mandolin Ensemble turns the familiar into the fringe while having a rollicking good time at it. Formed by mandobassist Jason Beals in late 2017, the Ecco Mandolin Ensemble features the full range of Mandolin Orchestra voices.
Cameron Freer (Mandolin)
Cameron has played fiddle in the Tastes Like Gravy jug band and Loose Ends bluegrass band, baroque violin in the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, and treble and tenor violas da gamba in the Mather House Viol Consort. In recent years, Mary Z. Cox and Cameron Freer have played energetic sets of old-time, celtic, and waltz music to eager crowds in North Carolina, Florida, and California, and recently released The Hogfiddle Sessions, a live album of fiddle, banjo, and dulcimer music.
He has a voracious appetite for music of many genres, including blues, jazz, and especially the music of Bach. Cameron’s style ranges from pensive drones to nimble dance tunes, and his playing draws out unexpected harmonies and intricate rhythms.
Sean Crehan (Mandolin)
Having taken a break from performing music, Sean has regained a passion for the arts. He grew up playing woodwinds and piano; mandolin has been a more recent foray that he’s fallen into whole-heartedly. He spends most of his time climbing trees professionally, romping around in the mud with his two blind old dogs, and going to concerts and museums with his wife.
Keith Higginson (Mandola)
Keith Higginson grew up surrounded by music and custom “Higginsonic” stringed instruments, but it wasn’t until he had children and a place of his own that he brought back a mandolin. Failing to get the kids interested (at the time), he got hooked himself. In the years since, his house has become full of instruments too. In addition to Ecco, he plays with the L’Esperance and South Hadley mandolin ensembles, and sometimes with his family.
Bob Jennings (Mandocello)
Bob has been playing music for over four decades. Thus he has had time to try a lot of different instruments, some of which he continues to play today. In earlier days, Bob played guitar and keyboards in rock bands. In the middle days, he started playing celtic fiddle and then soon moved on to cello which he devoted many years to. In 2013, Bob released a CD of Scottish music played on cello. As mandolin is a natural transition from fiddle, so the attraction to mandocello was obvious. Bob plays a 5-course instrument that covers the range from mandocello to octave mandolin (some call a Liuto Cantabile) and another 5-course instrument that covers the range from mandola to mandolin. And lots of other things with strings (and a few keys as well).
Jason Beals (Mandobass)
In 1989, Jason walked into the Music Emporium (then in Cambridge, MA) and saw a Gibson Mandobass on top of a display case and it was love at first sight. In addition to being the founder and principal arranger for Ecco, Jason regularly performs on Mandobass with the L’Esperance Mandolin Ensemble and has participated in the East Coast Mandolin Orchestra. An excerpt of his composition The Gibbous Suite was featured on the Moth Radio Hour in 2022.
Jason is an avid purveyor of all things strings, and when not resettling instruments, he regularly accompanies his wife and her group of Gaelic singers on guitar in addition to occasionally resuscitating his folk-funk band, Bean.