Ellery Eskelin Trio

Douglas · May-23rd-2003, 05:29 AM

On Tuesday night I caught Ellery Eskelin with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black at the Duc des Lombards. A thoroughly enjoyable two sets before I had to bail out (it being a school night after all). The highlights for me were 43 RPM and Half A Chance from their new album Arcanum Moderne, which I also picked up and am enjoying. Ellery Eskelin’s playing was as usual wonderful fodder for the ears. Andrea Parkins impresses me more and more each time I hear her; consistently interesting and adding new textures to the group’s sound. The interplay of this group is excellent, and, as my accidental companion that night pointed out, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the improvised and compositional elements. To these ears, the ability of Eskelin to draw together and build on all that is going on is impressive (that may not be quite right as I find it difficult to express what I was hearing, but I hope you get the rough picture).

Go see them on this tour if you have the chance. And for those of you who’ve not seen the new summer hat in action; here it is.

mke · May-23rd-2003, 06:28 AM

Cool picture!

43 RPM is a cool song. The 3rd time the jungle beat came back, the crowd in Lille was going crazy.

hermann · June-20th-2003, 05:16 AM

I heard this group at Loft Cologne and for me it was a highlight of a concert. This music gave me strong impressions. If I think of a documentary film of my hometown to show its changing from a coalmining and steelfabricating industrie to a city with an GM ( Opel ) carfabrication and an University that costs a lot of workingplaces from the 60er. to the 90.er years there could not be a better music to accompany that dramatic changes. So I really hope to hear them again and for sure I will collect their outstanding music from now on.