Ellery Eskelin

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Ellery Eskelin

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Img_capt = Ellery Eskelin on stage at "Le Triton" (Paris) 01/24/2007. Photo by Christophe Alary.
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Instrument = tenor saxophone
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Genre = Jazz
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URL = http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/
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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.

Eskelin has resided in New York City since 1983. He leads touring ensembles in Europe, Canada and the United States and has released numerous recordings 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, Han Bennink, Sylvie Courvoisier 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, described by "Down Beat" magazine as "a startlingly new concept", January 1997) make for a music that often defies easy categorization. Eskelin has garnered significant critical praise in the international jazz press and is recognized as "a major player in today's creative music". ("Down Beat", September 1995)

Discography

*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

* [http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/ Official web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/elleryeskelin Ellery Eskelin on Myspace.com]
*"This American Life", an NPR radio program, broadcast an interview with Ellery Eskelin, who spoke about his discovery of his father's works. This show originally aired August 15th, 1997. [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=73]

Gallery