Ellery Eskelin

Born: August 16, 1959

For the past forty 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 personal and iconoclastic body of work with the view that jazz and American music is an ongoing creative process with great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers a passionate musical expression to the listening public. 

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.

About (or On), First Visit

By Ellery Eskelin

Label: Ezz-thetics
Released: 2025
Track listing: About (or On)...Rumination (Ellery Eskelin) Memories of You (Eubie Blake); About (or On)...Monk (Ellery Eskelin) Off Minor (Thelonious Monk); About (or On)...Conjuring (Ellery Eskelin) Witchcraft (Cy Coleman); About (or On)...Desire (Ellery Eskelin) Lover Come Back to Me (Sigmund Romberg); About (or On)...Endless (Ellery Eskelin) How Deep is the Ocean (Irving Berlin); About (or On)...Celestial (Ellery Eskelin) The Midnight Sun (Lionel Hampton & Sonny Burke); About (or On)...Happenstance (Ellery Eskelin) Just One of Those Things (Cole Porter); About (or On)...Monk (Ellery Eskelin) We See (Thelonoius Monk); About (or On)...Aspiration (Ellery Eskelin) My Ideal (Richard A. Whiting & Newell Chase); About (or On)...Regret (Ellery Eskelin) After You've Gone (Turner Layton); About (or On)...Flame (Ellery Eskelin) Flamingo (Ted Grouya & Edmund Anderson).

Ellery Eskelin: About (or On), First Visit

by Stefano Merighi
July 3, 2025

All'interno di un catalogo variegato ma di sicuro assottigliato negli ultimi anni, il tenorsassofonista Ellery Eskelin ha dato prova di controllare una cultura musicale ampia e sofisticata, nutrita sia dalla tradizione gospel e blues che dalle decostruzioni postmoderne. I due dischi di cui la ezzthetics stavolta meritoriamente cura la riedizione, pubblicati nel 2011 e ...

Ellery Eskelin Trio New York: About (or On), First Visit

by Mark Corroto
May 25, 2025

It might be tempted to say that Ellery Eskelin's Trio New York is deconstructing the eleven standards on the two-disc set About (or On) First Visit. But that would be a misreading. This is not a breakdown of classic material in search of alternative meanings or structural analysis. Rather, Eskelin, alongside organist Gary Versace and drummer ...

4 Horns & What? �C The Complete American Recordings

By Phillip Haynes

Label: Corner Store Jazz
Released: 2024
Track listing:
CD 1:
A'lil Iowa Get-Down; El-Smoke; Ballad For Heike; Point Period; Atmospheres; Corner Store Strut; Alone; Blues for Israel.
CD 2:
Holler 4 Horns; Out of the Bowels; Sweep; Goofus' Step; Some Sick Slick; Where Now; Adrienne's Jazzmarchrag; Phantoms; Eclipse.
CD 3:
Don Byron intro; Holler4Horns; A Little Iowa Get-Down; Phil Speaks 1; Goofus' Step; Saeta; Phil Speaks 2; West Virginian Blues; Waltz for Gerry (Last Dance); Phil Speaks 3; Eclipse.

Music for Chamber Trio

By Terrence McManus

Label: Rowhouse Music
Released: 2024
Track listing: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7.

Ritratto di Adam O'Farrill

by Angelo Leonardi
October 7, 2024

Il trentesimo compleanno del trombettista Adam O'Farrill coincide con la pubblicazione di HUESO, il suo settimo album da leader/co-leader prodotto in una carriera singolarmente lunga e prestigiosa. Il primo importante riconoscimento pubblico gli giunge all'et�� di 21 anni nel 2015, con la vittoria di Bird Calls al critics poll di Down Beat, un album ...

Terrence McManus: Music for Chamber Trio

by Glenn Astarita
September 28, 2024

Terrence McManus' Music for Chamber Trio is a masterclass in the art of minimalism, a testament to the power of understated composition. The album, which features an unconventional trio, challenges traditional notions of chamber music, favoring textural exploration over melodic or rhythmic dominance. From the outset, guitarist McManus makes it clear that this is ...

Andrea Grossi Blend 3 + Jim Black: Axes

by Angelo Leonardi
August 26, 2024

La spinta avventurosa che ha animato la musica del Blend 3 fin dal 2017 (due anni dopo il primo disco Lubok, seguito dal progetto orchestrale Four Winds e da Songs and Poems con Beatrice Arrigoni) trova nuove e palpitanti forma d'espressione. Nel nuovo disco il trio riformula alcune prospettive di base inglobando il formidabile ...

Dan Weiss, Jack Sheldon and Marcin Wasilewski

by Jerome Wilson
May 22, 2024

This show features recent music from Dan Weiss and Ches Smith, vocals by Madeleine Peyroux and Jack Sheldon (with Chet Baker), and a live track from the Marcin Wasilewski Trio. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) ...