Ed is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and a graduate of the University of Connecticut, Class of 1969. In 1965, he founded Bands Unlimited which later morphed into Miriam Cohen Productions with his wife as his business partner. The business soon became the largest independent music management/booking agency in New England: managing five bands and booking one hundred. Simultaneously, he was playing 2nd sax, and percussion and was a backup singer for “The Gravy Train”.
Throughout his involvement in the East Coast music scene, he worked with: Jerry Greenberg (later President of Atlantic Records and MJJ Music for Michael Jackson at Sony); Craig McGregor (Foghat); Bobby Torello (Edgar Winter); Fred Parris and the 5 Satins (of “In the Still of the Night Fame”); and Michael Bolton (formerly known as Michael Bolotin); and many others. In 1974, Ed encountered Dave Biro and his invention, The BiroTron- widely recognized as the rarest instrument in rock music history. Ed arranged a meeting with Rick Wakeman, keyboardist of YES, while in search of an endorsement to raise funds to build the instrument. Wakeman instead suggested a partnership with manufacturing be conducted at his factory in High Wickham, UK. However, only seventeen units were produced. Even so, the Biroron was used on recordings by YES, Wakeman, Tangerine Dream, and extensively on the road. In 1980, Ed left the music scene with the emergence of disco.
No one could pay him enough to play or even listen to THAT! When Ed moved to Southern California in 2008, he started hearing the music that he loved –ROCK! At a chance meeting poolside at a Palm Springs resort he met Robin McAuley, the lead singer of Survivor (now with the Michael Schenker Group - MSG). After a two-hour conversation, Robin said something that gave Ed pause for thought. Robin said: “You know what I am most grateful for in life? That, at my age, I am still privileged to perform and entertain audiences.“
Having returned to CT in late 2018, Ed Currently manages Italian-American composer/conductor/arranger/producer/multi-instrumentalist/track engineer/mix engineer/mastering engineer Max Di Carlo and Second Sight, a classic rock band comprised of current and semi-retired major moguls in the film/TV industry. He also manages Ray Griggs, DGA Director/producer/technologist/writer. The latest additions to the team are Steve Johnson, Rob “Rob the Drummer” Gottfried, and Marston Smith “Lord of the Cello.”
Ed began a parallel career in filmmaking in 2021 as a location scout, locations manager, associate producer, and product placement specialist and has since worked on four feature films and lined up more at the time of this writing.
On January 25, 2023, Ed had an initial lunch with Jonathan Black at The Blue Colony Diner in Newtown, Connecticut. They were astounded to find that they had the burning goal to build the film industry in CT and committed to working together to get it done…and 5 months later with three other co-founders, and a great Board, The Connecticut Film and TV Alliance is ‘gittin’ ‘er done!’
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Jul 8 202316 m