Jazz Articles about Peter Erskine

About Peter Erskine

Radio & Podcasts

We think of fusion as a music of the seventies, but its traditions live on today as various artists return to the genre to try out new experiments as well as offer their own spins on older approaches. This podcast looks at two somewhat uncharacteristic examples of fusion from the seventies—one a studio-band workout on pop tunes of the day, the other an extension of the Miles Davis / Herbie Hancock schools of fusion, then look at two recent releases ...

SoCal Jazz

Peter Erskine: Up Front, In Time, and On Call, Part 1

by Jim Worsley
February 22, 2019

Part 1 | Part 2Peter Erskine is affable, engaging, and humorous. He, of course, is also one of the finest drummers of his generation. He has left his mark on the jazz and fusion world for nearly fifty years now. An icon, whose name is mentioned with the greats of all time, Erskine continues to gift us as he forges ahead by crafting new music, sharing his knowledge and expertise with aspiring young musicians, and continuing to reinvent ...

Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Desert

by Tyran Grillo
June 1, 2018

After two expansive collections that gathered large ensembles and formidable names, Yelena Eckemoff chooses subtraction. Desert arrives as a deliberate narrowing of the horizon, a journey defined not by accumulation but by exposure. Joined by Paul McCandless on an assortment of reeds and winds, Arild Andersen on bass, and Peter Erskine on drums and percussion, Eckemoff steps into a terrain where every gesture is magnified by space. What emerges is music that feels windswept and arid, an austere and sharply ...

Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Desert

by Mark Sullivan
June 1, 2018

Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff was born in Russia and in 2018 lives in North Carolina--neither location suggests a desert theme. But Eckemoff became fascinated by the Arabian Desert, producing not only music but also prose stories connecting the compositions to each other, as well as poetry and paintings (including the album's cover image). Her albums are usually organized around a theme. This one is unusual in having a musical style directly associated with it: so much of this program combines Arabic ...

Live Review

Peter Erskine & The Dr.Um Band al Soresina Jazz Fest 2018

by Vincenzo Roggero
May 17, 2018

Peter Erskine & The Dr.Um Band Teatro Sociale Soresina 04.05.2018 Anticipato di circa un mese rispetto alle precedenti edizioni, ricollocato nella cornice otttocentesca del Teatro Sociale, il Soresina Jazz Festival è partito con il botto. Ad infiammare il numeroso pubblico accorso ci pensa la Dr.Um Band di Peter Erskine quartetto di gran classe con il quale il batterista di Somers Point, New Jersey, esprime al meglio il suo lato più intimamente fusion. ...

Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Desert

Read "Desert" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 13, 2018

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff's backstory doesn't suggest the potential for a rise to the category of top level jazz pianist. But here she is, after emigrating to the U.S. from Russia with her husband--leaving her children (temporarily) and everything else (permanently) behind in 1991 to escape repression and to start a new life. Classically trained in her homeland, Eckemoff came to jazz relatively late. With persistence, talent, ambition, audacity and a seemingly unshakable optimism, she has navigated her way to the ...

In Pictures

Peter Erskine Group at the 2017 Ospedaletti Jazz Festival

by Carlo Mogavero
August 15, 2017

The Peter Erskine Group was the highlight of the 2017 Ospedaletti Jazz Festival on August 4th in the Liguria region of Italy. Held at an amphitheater of a local park, the sold out show was attended by jazz fans from as far away as neighboring France. The band was comprised of Peter Erskine (drums), John Beasley (keyboards), Bob Sheppard (saxophone), and Benjamin Shepherd (bass). Erskine's remarkable resume includes time with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, ...