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Jazz Articles about Peter Erskine
Yelena Eckemoff: Flying Steps
by Karl Ackermann
A good rule of thumb when exploring new or unfamiliar jazz terrain is to look for either bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz or drummer Peter Erskine among the personnel. Finding both together leads to the very satisfying net results of Yelena Eckemoff 's Flying Steps, reuniting the Russian-born pianist with Erskine for their third collaboration. The addition of Oleszkiewicz is a windfall of almost indefinable value, the bassist contributing his experience and versatility as a sideman on more than ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music
by Edward Blanco
Standards hold a particular fascination for drummer Peter Erskine, as initiated through his Grammy-nominated Standards(Fuzzy Music, 2008). Unlike that first album--comprised primarily of old jazz standards--Standards 2, Movie Music focuses on songs that are considered standards from the realm of Hollywood movies. Featuring music from Gone With The Wind (1939), considered by many to be one of the best movies ever made, to the main theme from Rosemary's Baby (1968), this unusual collection of songs, by necessity, has to leave ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Derek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music
by Dan Bilawsky
While the songs featured on Standards 2, Movie Music were given an initial audience through the medium of film, some of them have led a fruitful existence beyond the borders of the silver screen. Some melodies--like Tara's Theme," from 1939's Gone With The Wind--will always be associated with their point of origin, but much of Cole Porter's catalog, including the two inclusions on this album ("Night And Day" and “I Concentrate On You"), is more familiar to current audiences than ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music
by Dan McClenaghan
Composers of movie soundtracks have crafted some of the most enduring tunes for jazz treatment. Names like Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Krzysztof Komeda, and Ennio Maricone show up in the credits of innumerable albums, with tunes that shape moods and atmospheres, and supply jazz artists with engaging melodies galore.Drummer Peter Erskine has collected a crack quartet which has, in turn, collected ten tunes from various movie soundtracks for a near perfect jazz outing, one with that swings with ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Cold Sun
by Bruce Lindsay
Cold Sun could readily be considered as a concept album, if that term hadn't been so abused over the years. Pianist Yelena Eckemoff has taken her inspiration for these ten original tunes from the winter season--perhaps in her native Russia, perhaps from her adopted homeland of North Carolina--and conjures up many different images of winter in her sparse and delicate trio arrangements. The starkly beautiful photographs on the CD cover give a clear indication of the music within, while the ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music
by John Kelman
Sometimes, the most powerful statements are those delivered directly: gentle, yet forceful in their complete commitment, and without the trappings of excess.With the sudden, unexpected passing in 2008 of Dave Carpenter--the talented and busy West Coast bassist who had played with everyone from Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman to Scott Henderson, Allan Holdsworth and Lee Ritenour--drummer Peter Erskine and pianist Alan Pasqua had to find a new bassist for their longstanding trio, last heard on Standards ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Cold Sun
by Warren Allen
Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff works in that rarified area between modern classical chamber music and progressive jazz. Born and raised in Russia, Eckemoff attended the Moscow State Conservatory, where she studied concert piano and grew up in a strong classical foundation. She came to the United States before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and continues to compose and perform. While many of her albums have tended towards a classical vein, Cold Sun provides an exploration of improvisation ...
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