Ethan Sultry

Raised in Cleveland, OH, Ethan Sultry (last name Margolis) comes from a family of musicians. Unhappy with the commercial music industry’s focus, he moved from playing punk rock music and blues in Ann Arbor, Michigan to beginning a new life in Seville, Spain at the age of 21. He spent the next 11 years immersed in the Gypsy circuit of Andalusian Flamenco music and specifically amongst the Pinini Family of Gypsy singers. In 2006, with the desire to support roots Andalusian Gypsy Song (Cante Gitano Andaluz), Margolis premiered his Flamenco touring company 'Arte Y Pureza' (Art and Purity). Arte Y Pureza toured internationally for the following six years. In 2007, Margolis produced and played guitar on Aires Gitanos the long-awaited release of the iconic Flamenco Singer/Dancer, Miguel Funi.

In 2009 Margolis composed an impressive two-hour score for Spanish Day, The Flamenco Rock Opera which toured in the USA and featured artistic collaborator, Bill Watterson (creator Calvin and Hobbes). Since moving back from Spain to Los Angeles in 2010, Margolis has dedicated himself to furthering the investigations started by Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sabicas as they all explored the essential ties between Jazz, Blues, and Flamenco.

Margolis’s first cd release for a jazz quintet was in 2014 with Soleangeles. In 2016, he debuted his first original vocal album, Sonikete Blues, which was recorded in Andalusia and Los Angeles. The album was featured as an iTunes editor's choice in the contemporary Blues category and received praise from producers like Ricardo Pachón (producer of Camarón de la Isla) and Larry Cohn (producer of the Robert Johnson Anthology and Sony’s Roots n Blues series). The respected jazz editorial, All About Jazz, released a feature article on Margolis’s solo career and his album, Sonikete Blues.

Margolis continues to perform and collaborate with top Jazz and Flamenco artists and just finished production on his electro-futuristic world jazz EP entitled Arsa100 La Fórmula where he trades licks with the legendary Spanish pianist and Wynton Marsalis-collaborator, Chano Domínguez. Margolis’s guitar playing was also featured on Sufi artist, Omar Faruk Tekbiliek’s album Love Is My Religion. He accompanied Macy Gray at the private WME partner event of May, 2020 and is passionate about supporting Gray’s charity MyGood.org which donates to the families of the victims of police violence. He is a featured endorsed guitarist of the music company Fishman in their 2019 catalogue.

Margolis is also a part time Spanish lecturer with California State University and a founder of CSUN’s first bilingual Spoken Word contest. He just recently led an October presentation at the Fall 2020 AATSP conference for social justice.

Other new works in production by Margolis include:

Say Their Names, the social justice single featuring Cedric Myton of Jamaica’s The Congos, Maiya Sykes and jazz pianist Ruslan Sirota

Tsigan, an original score created for the poetry book by USC professor Cecilia Woloch, which speaks of the Gypsy Holocaust in WWII

Whole Lotta Lovin, Jamaican DJ Papa Michigan’s 2020 EP release

Lo Recordarás. Yelsy Heredia’s solo artist breakout single

The Pale Red Rose, Ethan’s father Ken Margolis’s newest single release

-and an unreleased special collaboration single featuring the Roma percussionist maestro, Ramón Porrina who acts as occasional musical director for Concha Buika.

Source: Ethan Sultry