Ellery Eskelin - 1990s

1990s

Eskelin began touring Europe regularly with drummer Joey Baron's group "Baron Down", a trio including Baron, Eskelin and trombonist Steve Swell (and later trombonist Josh Roseman). "Baron Down" released three recordings, "Tongue in Groove" (1991), "Raised Pleasure Dot" (1993) and "Crack Shot" (1996). It was during this time that Eskelin abandoned any type of commercially oriented work in order to concentrate fully on his own projects and the music of like minded colleagues. Taking advantage of a three month period with no concert performances in the early 1990s Eskelin developed a solo saxophone concert program in complete musical isolation, opting not to perform or interact with any other musicians during this time. In addition to entirely revamping his approach to the saxophone the process proved to be a catalyst for musical ideas that Eskelin further developed and applied to his compositions for the group "Ellery Eskelin with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black". The group, featuring Parkins on accordion and electronics and Black on percussion released "Jazz Trash" in 1995 and followed up with a dozen recordings over the ensuing decade and into the 2000s primarily for the Swiss based Hat Hut label. In the liner notes to "One Great Day..." (the band's second release) Eskelin explains that the fractured and sometimes incongruent nature of his experiences as a musician coming up in the 1970s and 1980s finally came together in a manner that made sense and could be expressed in a unified musical language with this ensemble. The group toured regularly in Europe, the U.S. and Canada and continues, having performed in Europe as recently as 2010.

One of Eskelin's most acclaimed recordings in the '90s was "The Sun Died" a project based upon music by (and associated with) saxophonist Gene Ammons. The format was unusual, utilizing saxophone, guitar (Marc Ribot) and drums (Kenny Wolleson). The New York Times characterized "The Sun Died" as "a remarkable record" and chose it as one of the Top 10 Recordings of 1996.