Eric Wesling hasn’t been cloned, at least not yet. But this 25-year-old San Diego native stands out in enough ways to make him a good candidate for benign duplication.
The 2021 Berklee College of Music graduate is an accomplished jazz, classical and rock guitarist. He is also an adept bassist, band leader, accompanist and arranger who performs several times a week.
By day, Wesling works as a music teacher and at Mission Bay High School. He performs gospel hymns every Sunday, alternating on guitar and bass, as a member of the house band at Spring Valley’s New Life Baptist Church.
“I think Eric is wonderful — and I’m very fussy!” said top San Diego flutist Holly Hofmann, who has performed with Wesling and recently featured his trio at her weekly Tio Leo’s jazz concert series. “He’s shy and soft-spoken, but Eric is a consummate artist on stage. He’s a total pro who really knows the traditions of jazz as well as the modern side.”
Wesling’s praises are also sung by Jean-Paul Balmat. He is the award-winning music director at Mission Bay High School, where Wesling — a 2017 graduate — was a standout student. Last fall, he became Balmat’s handpicked teaching assistant.
“Eric is amazing and has learned very fast,” Balmat said. “He really helps me out with a lot of istrative things and helps me build curriculum. He writes three- and four-part harmony arrangements for our vocal ensembles and teaches a lot of our small-group lessons. His connection with the students is inspiring. Eric is a very naturally gifted musician, but he also has a remarkable work ethic.”
That work ethic is deeply rooted.
When Wesling was in fifth grade, he taught himself — by ear — part of Eddie Van Halen’s finger-breaking electric guitar opus “Eruption,” which includes a quote from 18th-century French opera composer Rodolphe Kreutzer’s violin Etude No. 2. By eighth grade, Wesling was absorbing the music of jazz six-string giant Wes Montgomery, whose innovative use of octaves set an enduring standard.
“Those were my first two light bulb moments,” said Wesling, who grew up in Pacific Beach and now lives in Mission Valley. “My family loves classic rock and it was playing all the time in our house. My dad played bass in a couple of heavy-metal bands when he was younger.”
Wesling’s jazz immersion began in earnest when he was 14. He embraced the wealth of jazz courses and student bands at Mission Bay High School. He also enrolled in the Gilbert Castellanos-led Young Lions Jazz Conservatory. For three years in a row, Wesling attended the UC San Diego Jazz Camp, where he studied with such luminaries as guitarist Peter Sprague, bassist Mark Dresser and saxophonist David Borgo.
“Eric was a very timid ninth grader and had very little jazz experience,” Balmat recalled. “But I’ve never seen a student so hyper-focused, and that has served him well ever since. He soaks up everything and has a wealth of musical knowledge.”
In 2017 Wesling earned a scholarship to Berklee, one of the nation’s most prestigious music schools, where he studied jazz and classical guitar.
That dual focus saw him hone his finger-picking skills and play electric and acoustic instruments that require a very different touch and approach. He relished the opportunity and notes that some of his favorite jazz guitarists — including Johnny Smith, George Barnes and George Van Eps — were heavily inspired by classical guitar icon Andrés Segovia.
After graduating in 2021 from Berklee, where he majored in music performance, Wesling returned to San Diego in 2021. In addition to his work at Mission Bay High School, he currently gives private guitar lessons to a half-dozen students, who range in age from 15 to their mid-30s.
On Thursday, Wesling and his quartet will perform a fundraising concert for Mission Bay’s jazz program at Merazi in South Park. In the fall, he will marry his girlfriend, Gabrielle, a dance, theater and gymnastics instructor. They met when both were students at Berklee.
“I’ve been able to make my living as a musician here, teaching and playing gigs, which has been really cool,” Wesling said. “So, I’m trying to keep that momentum going. I’d like to focus more on my own music and make my first album this year. I’m trying to do fewer gigs with other people so that I can develop my own artistry.
“No matter what the style is — jazz, blues, gospel, rock, classical — I like to do my homework for what the music requires. As much as I want to be a band leader, I love being an accompanist and making whoever I’m playing with shine. “
The Eric Wesling Quartet, with the Mission Bay Preservationists Jazz Quintet
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Meraki South Park, 1648 30th Street, South Park
Tickets: $25, general; $75, dinner package
Online: missionbaymusic.com/preservationists
