The News & Observer
ON THE RECORD
Arts & Entertainment
The News and Observer (Final Edition)
Date: 02/20/2000
Page: G1
Joyful blend of jazz camps, by Owen Cordle
Eskelin outdoes himself:
With difficult or unfamiliar music, the old "tell them, then show them" principle
goes a long way. Thus, we have the Schoenburg phrase "melody of textures" to explain
Ellery Eskelin's group with accordionist Andrea Parkins and drummer Jim Black. The
tenor saxophonist uses the description in the liner notes to "Five Other Pieces (+2)"
(hatOLOGY), an album that takes the less-traveled road to ensemble playing and improvisation.
Despite the sometimes bizarre textural and stylistic cross-ups of this music, it
succeeds in execution, contrast and expression. It may not contain a message that
suits everybody, but credit Eskelin, a seasoned but not cynical avant-gardist, with
a creative crusade against status-quo playing. Five of the tunes are by familiar names:
John McLaughlin ("The Dance of Maya"), Lennie Tristano ("April"), John Coltrane ("India"),
Charlie Haden ("Song for Che") and George Gershwin ("Prelude II"). The "(+2)" in
the title refers to Eskelin's "Cause and Effect" and "Ways and Means."
On "Dance," the opening tune, the saxophonist sets the demanding pace with raunchy
blues patterns and wailing, corkscrew lines. Parkins squeezes ominous chords against
the tenor spiral, and Black tears loose from an initial march beat. Is the performance together? Yes, in the larger realm of textures colliding and structural organization.
No, if you want the ensemble marching in a straight line from start to finish.
We do not have to justify Eskelin's method, we only have to respond as duly educated
listeners (assuming we've read the liner notes or otherwise know his modus operandi).
In this case, we hear a dark opera, in three parts, the whole of which exceeds the sum.
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