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Ellery Eskelin

 
Artist: Ellery Eskelin
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David Boykin, DKV Trio, Mats Gustafsson, The Vandermark 5, Tony Malaby, Ken Vandermark, Andrea Parkins, Briggan Krauss, John Zorn, Ned Rothenberg, Matthew Shipp, Human Feel, Misha Mengelberg, Joe McPhee, Fred Anderson, Evan Parker, Paul Bley, Tim Berne

Influenced By:

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Followers:

Matt Bauder

Worked With:

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Formal Connection With:

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Relationship With:

Rodd Keith
  • Born: August 16, 1959, Wichita, KS
  • Active: '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Sax (Tenor)
  • Representative Albums: "Kulak 29 & 30," "Five Other Pieces (+2)," "The Sun Died"

Biography

Tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin was born in Wichita, KS, in 1959. He was raised in a musical home in Baltimore, MD, by his mother, Bobbie Lee, who played Hammond B-3 organ and led her own jazz groups during the '60s. Eskelin began playing the tenor saxophone when he was ten years old and knew immediately that he wanted to be a jazz player. He began working professionally while still in high school, and in 1973, began attending annual week-long summer residences with Stan Kenton & His Orchestra at Towson State University, where from 1977 to 1981 he was a student. In 1983, Eskelin moved to N.Y.C. to study and play, and it was here that he first really listened to music by his father Rodd Keith, who worked in the song poem industry during the '60s and '70s. Although Keith became a sort of cult figure due to his music, Eskelin was not as musically influenced by his father since he did not hear his music until this later date. Four years later, Eskelin appears on his first recording, Joint Venture, with Drew Gress and Paul Smoker, released by the Enja label. Over the years, Eskelin has developed a strong individual approach, combining jazz roots with various concepts of independence and role changing in an attempt to play freely, while still paying attention to harmony, time, and form. In 1994, he formed a trio with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black which has released structurally tight and enjoyable albums, mostly on the Hatology label. By 1999, Eskelin had released ten albums as a leader and appeared as a sideman on over 20 other releases. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Ellery Eskelin
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Ellery Eskelin

Ellery Eskelin on stage at "Le Triton" (Paris) 01/24/2007. Photo by Christophe Alary.
Background information
Born August 16, 1959 (1959-08-16) (age 49)
Genre(s) Jazz
Instrument(s) tenor saxophone
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/

Ellery Eskelin (born August 16, 1959) American tenor saxophonist. Born in Wichita, Kansas, raised in Baltimore, Maryland from the age of two. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were also musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, California and became a cult figure after his death in the little known field of "song-poem" music. Organist Bobbie Lee performed in local nightclubs in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 1960s and provided Eskelin an introduction to standards from the Great American Songbook as well as inspiring an early interest in jazz music.

Eskelin has resided in New York City since 1983 and has lead numerous international touring ensembles while participating as a side-person with many of today's most forward thinking composers and improvisors. He has released more than twenty recordings as a leader since the late 1980s, primarily for the Swiss hatOLOGY label. His most important work continues to be with the group he formed in 1994 featuring keyboardist Andrea Parkins and drummer Jim Black although he has maintained lasting musical associations with Joey Baron, Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Ribot, David Liebman, Han Bennink, Sylvie Courvoisier, Bobby Previte and Daniel Humair among others.

Eskelin's style has its roots in the jazz realm yet his unique phrasing (which is compared to Arnold Schoenberg's technique of "klangfarbenmelodie" in The Wire, December 1996) and the unorthodox techniques utilized in his compositions (in which composed and improvised elements often collide unpredictably) make for a music that defies easy categorization. Over the years, Eskelin has garnered significant critical praise in the international jazz press. Down Beat Magazine has recognized him as "a major player in today's creative music" (September 1995) and described his compositional approach as "a startlingly new concept" (January 1997).

Contents

Discography

  • One Great Night...Live (hatOLOGY 2009)
  • Every So Often (prime source 2008)
  • Quiet Music (prime source 2006)
  • Ten (hatOLOGY 2004)
  • Arcanum Moderne (hatOLOGY 2002)
  • 12 (+1) Imaginary Views (hatOLOGY 2001)
  • Vanishing Point (hatOLOGY 2000)
  • The Secret Museum (hatOLOGY 1999)
  • Ramifications (hatOLOGY 1999)
  • Dissonant Characters (hatOLOGY 1998)
  • Five Other Pieces (+2) (hatOLOGY 1998)
  • Kulak 29 & 30 (hatOLOGY 1997)
  • One Great Day (hatOLOGY 1996)
  • The Sun Died (Soul Note 1996)
  • Green Bermudas (Eremite 1996)
  • Jazz Trash (Song Lines 1994)
  • Premonition - solo tenor saxophone (prime source 1992)
  • Figure of Speech (Soul Note 1991)
  • Forms (Open Minds 1990)
  • Setting the Standard (Cadence Jazz Records 1988)

Filmography

  • On the Road with Ellery Eskelin w/Andrea Parkins & Jim Black (prime source DVD release 2004)
  • Off the Charts - The Song Poem Story (PBS Television Broadcast 2003, Shout Factory DVD)

External links

Gallery

Photo by Christophe Alary
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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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