One More Once…

Suddenly it’s 2022

Having been so absorbed in getting music out of my closet and into your ears I’m caught short with an appropriate introductory post for the new year.  This particular music being of the archival variety I’ve been looking back.  This retrospection has served to remind me of the social vibrancy that we’ve all shared in the past and will share again as conditions change.  So yes, happy new year to you and yours.

The archival series on Band Camp is currently up to twenty-eight.  Five titles went up just last evening. I keep thinking that I’ve turned up everything worth sharing and yet I always find that I’ve overlooked something.  Here’s what’s new:

Trio New York (Eskelin, Versace, Cleaver) - Live in Amsterdam, 2012
Ellery Eskelin w/Andrea Parkins & Jim Black + Jessica Constable - Live in Amsterdam, 2004
Ellery Eskelin w/Andrea Parkins & Jim Black + Jessica Constable - Live in Paris, 2010
Ellery Eskelin, Erik Deutsch, Allison Miller - Live in Philadelphia, 2009
Ellery Eskelin, Erik Deutsch, Allison Miller - Live in NYC, 2010

The two recordings from Amsterdam are each from The Bimhuis, a venue with a concert history going back to 1974.  The accumulated energy of the place always seems to lift the music right from the start.  The two concerts with Andrea Parkins , Jim Black and vocalist Jessica Constable are contrasting documents.  On “Live in Amsterdam” Jessica melds with us on existing repertoire that we had been doing previously as a trio.  But on “Live in Paris” I gave Jessica the musical reins for the evening.  She employed her own compositions in the form of voice, recordings and samples while Andrea, Jim and I improvised upon hearing them for the first time in the performance.   This was a special concert also in that it was the last performance by EEw/AP&JB.  I also discovered two recordings from what might be termed an alternative organ trio with organist Erik Deutsch and drummer Allison Miller.  It’s a very different sound than Trio New York.  Given that this group never released any recordings I was happy to find these.

In looking forward into the new year, having taken stock of years past, I’m thinking about the ways in which music and art change.  How our perspective on our own time changes with time.  And how not to take anything for granted.   It’s a good feeling.