Jazz Articles

Ellery Eskelin/ Sylvie Courvoisier: Every So Often

by Mark Corroto
May 1, 2009

The improvisational intersection of American and European music exemplified in the recording Every So Often finds common ground without much trouble when the improvisers are Ellery Eskelin and Sylvie Courvoisier.

This hour of sonically stellar studio recordings never lacks for innovation nor repeats ideas. Saxophonist Eskelin, a jazz maverick is probably best known for his trio work with drummer Jim Black and accordion player Andrea Parkins, with their 'rock the Sun Ra casbah' music. His jazz roots are ...

Ellery Eskelin: Quiet Music

by Kurt Gottschalk
May 7, 2007

Saxophonist Ellery Eskelin's trio with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black is so tight, so dense, that it's hard to imagine another musician in the mix. But on this double-disc set he adds vocalist Jessica Constable and on three tracks augments the group up to a quintet with Phillippe Gelda on keyboards and vocals. The results are every bit as satisfying as the work of the trio he's led for a dozen years and every bit as dense and musical as ...

Ellery Eskelin: Quiet Music

by Glenn Astarita
April 12, 2007

Years on the road and numerous recording for Swiss-based Hatology Records have generated a distinguished musical persona for tenor sax titan Ellery Eskelin and his band. Here, drummer Jim Black and accordionist/sampler Andrea Parkins assist with moving the torch forward. But the addition of vocalist Jessica Constable and French vocalist/keyboardist Philippe Gelda rein in a new stylistic vamp on this two-CD set produced for Eskelin's Prime Source label.

Intact are Parkins' quirky accordion passages and Black's offbeat rhythmic ...