Ellery Eskelin
at The Custard Factory 10th October 1997
Unknown proves himself to be a real hit
Each of tenor saxophonist Eskelin's new pieces has a number, titles to be appended
later. He even asks the audience for suggestions.
He has the air of a very precise composer, a stickler for detail. The intimate gathering
is hushed in the recital atmosphere, but once the trio start up, the result is a
passionate, enquiring sound, controlled even as it boils over.
Andrea Parkins sits centre stage, her keyboard and sampling equipment plugged up to
two amplifiers, her footspace littered with effects pedals. Despite all this, the
gig is a very acoustic experience, Parkins flanked by Eskelin and drummer Jim Black,
both playing straight into the room; no microphones, no p.a.
Parkins seems to act as an intermediary between the two, her accordion spreading thick
clusters, filling out the centre, sometimes whistling with shaped feedback as she
treads hard on a distortion pedal.
Parkins chases Eskelin's gristly sax threads, pouring out walking figures while he
perverts the bebop traditions with honking, popping gobbets, his firm tone hinting
at a long lost R&B past.
This pure acoustic state is a revelation. Black approaches his kit with incredible
sensitivity, snapping, brushing, bowing cymbals, picking up small shakers or lashing
skins with chains. He moves from abstract tumbling to motorised rhythms, pressing
rock power onto bebop complexity.
Some of the tunes have a dynamic pulse, others are more impressionistic, at times
conjuring up movie soundtrack images. Eskelin might be nearly unknown over here,
but his band proved themselves to be in the upper echelons of post-loft New York
jazz experimentation.
- Martin Longley, The Birmingham Post, 13/10/97
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