The Squid's Ear Magazine


Eskelin, Ellery Trio (w/ Gary Versace / Gerry Hemingway): Willisau Live (Hatology)

2015 recordings of tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin's trio with Gary Versace on organ and Gerry Hemingway on drums, an ebullient set live at the Jazz Festival in Willisau, Switzerland, sequencing Count Basie, Victor Young, Ernie Burnett, and Thelonious Monk tunes.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Ellery Eskelin-tenor saxophone

Gary Versace-organ

Gerry Hemingway-drums


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UPC: 752156074120

Label: Hatology
Catalog ID: Hatology741
Squidco Product Code: 21671

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2016
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded live at the Jazz Festival in Willisau, Switzerland on August 28th, 2015 by Martin Pearson.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"We see many familiar faces each time we perform in Willisau and it's always wonderful to reconnect with our friends over the years. It's that warm feeling combined with a heightened awareness of the special nature of this annual event that makes this place, these people and these performances so memorable.

This concert was recorded for SRF 2 Kultur and the combination of good vibes (on the part of the audience) and technical acumen (on the part of the recording engineers) resulted in a document that I feel is worth sharing. Please note that any distortion you may hear in the sound of the Hammond organ was original to the instrument and not introduced in the recording process. These vintage instruments each have their own particular character and Gary Versace truly brought this B3 to life in all it's glorious grit and soul.

Gary's nearly telepathic musical mind along with Gerry Hemingway's absolutely unique approach to the drums infused the music this evening with a very special and rare chemistry. It was a great pleasure for me and I hope you enjoy listening."-Ellery Eskelin, November 2015



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"For the past thirty years Ellery Eskelin has been at the forefront of the global creative improvised music scene. Based in New York City, he has traveled widely performing, recording and amassing a very personal and iconoclastic body of work. And yet Ellery Eskelin has always remained deeply committed to the traditions of jazz and American music. Eskelin embodies this seeming contradiction with ease. He does not see jazz as a style or idiom but as a process. Further, a process of creative development that has great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers to the listening public unadulterated, passionate music with no excuses and no apologies.

Ellery Eskelin (born 1959) was raised in Baltimore and began playing the tenor saxophone at age ten, inspired by his mother "Bobbie Lee" who played Hammond B3 organ professionally in the early sixties. In 1983 Eskelin moved to New York City and in 1987 began recording with the cooperative group Joint Venture which also began his exposure on the European international touring circuit. Soon after, Eskelin formed the first of many projects as a leader beginning with a trio comprised of bassist Drew Gress and drummer Phil Haynes followed by a short lived group featuring Joe Daley on tuba and Arto Tuncboyaciyan on bakdav drums and percussion. In 1992 Eskelin joined drummer Joey Baron's group, "Baron Down" (instrumentation of drums, trombone and saxophone), an experience that proved to be an important catalyst in his own work fostering an increased interest in new and unusual instrumentation. In 1994 Eskelin formed the group most often associated with him including accordionist Andrea Parkins and drummer Jim Black. To date he has written over 50 compositions for this group, each of which has been documented on a series of CD releases on the Swiss hatHUT record label. The band has toured regularly and performed hundreds of concerts in the US, Canada and throughout Europe during the past twenty years. Eskelin's most recent project is "Trio New York" featuring organist Gary Versace and drummer Gerald Cleaver. "Trio New York" takes a free approach to the great American songbook, bringing Eskelin full circle to his musical beginnings while addressing his varied musical journeys since then.

Along the way Eskelin has done a number of side projects including a group featuring guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Kenny Wollesen dedicated to the music of Gene Ammons, improvisatory duos with Dutch drummer Han Bennink, an improvising ensemble consisting of strings, vibraphone and saxophone and most recently a group featuring Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar and bassist Michael Formanek. Over the years Eskelin has developed a number of other important associations with musicians such as Gerry Hemingway, Mark Helias, Sylvie Courvoisier, and Bobby Previte. As a side-person Eskelin has worked with a broad cross section of jazz, avant-pop and new-music figures such as organist Brother Jack McDuff, composer Mikel Rouse, guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, drummer Daniel Humair and the pseudo-group "The Grassy Knoll" among many others.

Eskelin's recordings as a leader and co-leader (there are currently twenty) have been named in Best of the Year critics' polls in the New York Times, The Village Voice , and major jazz magazines in the US and abroad. He also appears on over fifty recordings as a side person. DownBeat Magazine named Eskelin as one of the 25 Rising Stars for the Future in its January 2000 issue ("...players who not only insure the music's survival but promise to take it to the next level") as well as including him in their Annual Critics Polls nearly every year since then. Eskelin was a nominee for the prestigious Danish Jazzpar award in 2003 and was the recipient of a Chamber Music America French-American Exchange grant in 2007 and in 2014 as well as a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant in 2009."

-Ellery Eskelin Website (http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/styled-5/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Since basing himself in NYC in 2002, originally hailing from Cos Cob, CT, jazz pianist, organist and accordionist Gary Versace has become one of the busiest and most versatile musicians on the scene, often featured in bands led by musicians such as John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Al Foster, Regina Carter, Maria Schneider, Madeleine Peyroux, Matt Wilson, Joe Magnarelli, Andy LaVerne, Adam Nussbaum, Brad Shepik, Ingrid Jensen and many others.

Recent CD releases include appearances as pianist on Ralph Alessi's 'Quiver" (ECM records) which received 4.5 stars in Downbeat, as accordionist on Maria Schneider's Grammy-winning 'The Thompson Fields,' as Hammond organist on Ellery Eskelin's 'Trio Willisau: Live' and Rich Perry's 'Organique,' and on all three instruments on Kurt Elling's 'Passion World.'

Versace won the "Rising Star' category on the Hammond organ in Downbeat's Critic's Poll in 2009 and 2010, and has placed in the primary Organ category consistently for the last 5 years. He won the Jazz Jounalists' Association's "Best Organist" award in 2012, and his work has been reviewed and featured in many national and international publications. He appeared twice as a guest on Marian McPartland's acclaimed NPR show 'Piano Jazz,' and McPartland has described him as '...endlessly inventive...(Versace) really has an extraordinary talent.'

He has several CD's under his own name on the SteepleChase and Criss Cross labels, and has appeared as a guest on almost 75 more.

Gary Versace has a masters degree in music performance from the Eastman School of Music, and spent eight years as a tenured associate professor in the jazz studies department at the University of Oregon. He remains active as a clinician and guest soloist both nationally and around the world."

-Gary Versace Website (http://www.garyversace.com/Default.asp)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Gerry Hemingway has led a number of quartet and quintets since the mid 1980's. In addition he has been a member of a wide array of long standing collaborative groups including Brew with Reggie Workman and Miya Masaoka, the GRH trio with Georg Graewe and Ernst Reijseger, the WHO trio with Michel Wintsch and Bänz Oester, as well as numerous duo projects with Thomas Lehn, John Butcher, Ellery Eskelin, Marilyn Crispell, and others. Mr. Hemingway is a Guggenheim fellow and has received numerous commissions for chamber and orchestral works as well as being noted for his innovative and multifaceted work as a solo performer which began in 1974. He was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet between 1983 and 1994 and is also well known for his collaborations with some of the world's most outstanding improvisers and composers including Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, Derek Bailey, Leo Smith and many others. He currently lives in Switzerland having joined the faculty of the Hochschule Luzern in 2009."

-Gerry Hemingway Website (http://www.gerryhemingway.com)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. On (Or About) ... 51:38

2. We See 11:11

3. I Don t Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You 6:57

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Hat Art
Top Sellers and Staff Lists for 2016

Search for other titles on the label:
Hatology.


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