Issue 451: May 20–27, 2004
New standards
Saxophonist Ellery Eskelin celebrates ten years of defying jazz convention
By Steve Smith
It all started with a sound I got in my head, which is the same way any of my projects start," saxophonist Ellery Eskelin explains, recalling the genesis of his working band with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black. Now 43, Eskelin was well established on the New York jazz scene as an in-demand sideman and member of the collective Joint Venture when he began to envision a project of his own in 1994.
"I heard this sound that became more compelling," Eskelin continues. "Maybe I had heard an accordion player in Europe. Slowly, over time, it kind of gelled: Okay, it's saxophone, drums...and accordion! That's it!"
The fusty old squeeze-box has likely engendered few such eureka moments. In Eskelin's case, however, the epiphany would pay unanticipated dividends. The band he soon formed with accordion player Parkins (who doubles on piano and sampler) and percussionist Black proved more versatile than the leader had imagined—so much so, in fact, that it has reached a milestone few contemporary jazz combos can claim: The trio celebrates its tenth anniversary with a performance at Issue on Saturday 22.
Adding to the festivities, Eskelin has just self-released an engaging homespun DVD featuring camcorder footage from a 2003 European tour. A freewheeling new studio recording with vocalist Jessica Constable, guitarist Marc Ribot and bassist Melvin Gibbs is due in the fall on hatOLOGY, a Swiss label that has issued ten Eskelin discs since 1997. Another European tour will follow in November. Altogether, it's an impressive showing for a band that Eskelin hoped might last for two or three years.
"The sound in my head shifted a little bit to accommodate the players," Eskelin says, noting that the band's 1995 debut, Jazz Trash (Songlines), more or less accurately represented his initial concept. He soon discovered that his collaborators offered him more compositional options than he had expected. "It can be a rock band or a string quartet," he says. "The roles can change so fluidly that it allows us to pretend we're anything we want to be. That's a way of playing that has provided a certain amount of longevity, because it's less defined."
On record, the group proves his point. From bright, punky melodies to diaphanous ruminations, the leader and his cohorts touch on practically every imaginable musical base—to the point that Eskelin is loath to call his group a jazz band. Certainly, his own playing is steeped in the blues, retaining an affable warmth and lanky swing even at its most abstract. Limbs flying in all directions, Black plays with unorthodox techniques that have yet to be named, let alone described. Sentimental kitsch and disquieting rumble emanate in equal measure from Parkins's bellows. On piano, she girds the band with stately figures; a moment later, she may steer her colleagues into a hall of fun-house mirrors with her sampler, occasionally pitting Eskelin against his own horn in an impromptu duet. Together, the three have taken jazz to previously unexplored areas; their string of hatOLOGY releases is without question one of the signal oeuvres of '90s improv.
The band's flexibility has paid off in another unexpected way: Faced with the prospects of fewer jazz clubs and diminished arts funding in the United States, Eskelin has booked his own tours, packed his mates into a van and hit the road with a work ethic comparable to an indie-rock group. After a decade, the trio might still play for the door at clubs in cities it hasn't visited before; Eskelin balances those gigs with more lucrative bookings at arts centers and universities. (In Europe, by contrast, the band is generally afforded train fare, hotel rooms and roadies.)
Ironically, while all three are locals, Eskelin, Parkins and Black play together in New York no more than once or twice a year—which simply makes each appearance more of an event. The rest of the time, Eskelin plays in other people's bands, while Parkins and Black pursue their own projects. "We have a schedule, but it's certainly not all year long," Eskelin says. "I think that's part of what's kept the band going for ten years: The fact that one group doesn't have to be everything for you is kind of healthy."
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