By Chris White
A welcome addition to the Chicago Jazz Festival this year is the
top-notch Ron Perrillo Trio. Ron will be joined by Dennis Carroll on bass and
Dana Hall on drums (taking the place of regular drummer George Fludas who is
currently on tour with Diana Krall).
Ron Perrillo has been reading what is known as evolutionary psychology, which
posits a theory on why some people are drawn to certain artistic endeavors.
Ron's own explanation is that some of us have a desire to create, “It is perhaps in our
natural genetic disposition to be creative.” Perhaps, but Ron seems to have gotten
more than his fair share in the gene pool lottery, and uses music to bring him in touch with the spiritual side of life, just as he brings Chicago jazz fans in touch with some excellent cutting edge jazz.
Ron was born in New York City and moved to southern Florida at age 11, where he played trumpet and baritone during high school. By his junior year began performing gigs on keyboard and trumpet.
He is largely self-taught, and it wasn’t until he was 19 that he learned
more about jazz through several local teachers. The biggest influence on Ron’s
writing and early development as a player, however, came from bass legend Jaco Pastorius, who was still active in the area.
Ron would frequently go to Jaco's house where he learned “hip” voicings on
the piano and talked at length about music. Ron says he saw Jaco’s “great side” at
these sessions, not the tragic, erratic and misunderstood side that was so often
perceived by the public.
A paucity of jazz pianists and regional styles in southern Florida gave Ron the
freedom to develop his own method of playing, unfettered to any one stylistic imperative. His influences include piano giants, including Bud Powell and Duke Ellington. Perrillo never heard the genius of Art Tatum until he was 26 -- thereafter,
he greatly admired Tatum’s incredible re-harmonizations.
But even before he began listening to and studying the jazz tradition,
Ron recalls hearing Steely Dan's Peg from the Aja album on a car radio and
being left in a state of wonder - "what are those cool chords?”, he thought.
He claims the pop group's jazz-inspired song writing and playing was
probably one of his early links to jazz.
Ron also enjoys classical music, especially the Impressionistic composers Debussy and
Ravel. His orchestral approach to playing the piano, particularly when he accompanies singers, comes from this music as well as jazz legend Herbie Hancock’s who is also an admirer of early 20th Century masters.
In 1990, Ron moved to Chicago under the advice of Florida multi-instrumentalist and
long-time friend Ira Sullivan. In short order, he inherited Jodie Christian’s piano
chair in the Brad Goode Quintet at the Green Mill and began regular associations
with Von Freeman, and Lin Halliday at the Get Me High Lounge.
In 1991 Perrillo formed his current trio consisting of Dennis Carroll who came from Brad
Goode's group and George Fludas who had moved back to Chicago from New
York to play with Lin Halliday. Ron claims the band works together to develop their unique repertoire of songs and sounds: "We all contribute material. The arrangements are a mix of standards and originals, developed and refined on gigs." On Ron’s soon-to- be-released CD, five songs will be standards, but not immediately recognizable as in the customary fashion.
Wanting to get away from the typical "head-solo-head" format, he mentions
that when recording some of the standards the melody was not even stated until the
end. Sometimes "rhythmic figures set up a piece and the arrangement grows
organically from that." Along with the unique performance of standards Ron has also arranged a 1974 hit by the English group The Hollies called, "The Air That
I Breathe," which was inspired by K.D. Lang's ethereal version.
The CD project is, in part, the result of his recent focus on writing. What fuels
Ron’s creativity? “Nature itself can be a big source of inspiration” replies Perrrillo, who enjoys taking motorcycle trips to the country. Experiencing the outdoors, movies and even news stories can fuel his imagination. One tune he has composed for not only piano but horns is called Mrithi, penned after recalling the tragic story of a
silverback gorilla killed by poachers in Rwanda. The tale of these
endangered gorillas and their guardian Dian Fossey is depicted in the movie
"Gorillas in the Mist."
Besides these extra-musical sources, Ron credits composers Wayne Shorter, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, along with Jaco Pastorius, as his major influences.
Many jazz fans in Chicago know of Ron's trio from his regular gigs at Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston. In addition to his CD's as a sideman in Chicago, he has recorded with Bobby Broom in New York on Criss Cross Records. Ron is an
exciting, unique performer and his trio at the festival is not to be missed. Catch him Saturday, August 31st, at Grant
Park - Jazz on Jackson 2:10-3:10pm.
Chris White is a freelance jazz pianist living in
Chicago. He teaches jazz piano, jazz theory and jazz history at Loyola
University and a jazz piano class at Northwestern University's Music
Academy.
Originally published in the the September issue of Chicago Jazz Magazine.
