Friday, June 22, 2007
Skerik's Maelstrom Trio...
...made a rare appearance on the East Coast as part of Wilmington's 19th annual DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. Turns out that Skerik, aka Eric Walton, is a Wilmington boy, as he acknowledged during a short somewhat mumbled patter between songs. His pull back to this, his only Wilmington, Delaware performance ever, was due, in part, to his father being from Wilmington along with some relatives in the audience. He did not say that he was born in Wilmington as Skerik is quite the mysterious guy. Googleing revealed that he was born in multiple places in 1967, including Seattle and Wilmington. There are Skeriks all around, I guess.His group's performance did his relatives proud. Along with his cohorts, both from Baton Rouge, LA, Brian Coogan on piano & organ, and Simon Lott on drums, percussion and one incredibly petite horn, Skerik played a solid 1 hour set. The Maelstrom Trio preceded the headliner for that night, the Mahavishnu Project, so there was a time limit for their performance. How unfortunate. It was obvious that folks had come to Rodney Square for the Mahavishnu Project.
There were not too many folks there who knew of Skerik's Saxophonics; lots of "Who are these guys?" was opined, a bit too loudly, I'll note. The three musicians were unaffected by their non-affect. They gazed around the grassy square enclosed by the shortish skyscrapers of the DuPont, Wilmington Trust, and Bank of America (so recently MBNA), stuck a licked finger in the air to determine wind velocity and direction and simply proceeded to play.Their first song, a lovely rendition of a Clifford Brown composition, had people turning their heads in mid-conversation. A mood was being set, not necessarily one that Skerik and crew would allow us to feel comfortable in, but a mood nonetheless. It is a contractual obligation of each performer at the Clifford Brown Festival to perform at least one Clifford Brown composition and Skerik made it known very quickly after finishing the group's first song that his obligation was done and he'd be on his own very way. The smooth sound of this sax was immediately replaced with a low cacophonous din, his version of saxophonics.
The saxophone became a percussive instrument, then transformed to an eerie electronic icicle, and then back to a warm-toned reedy one, all within the confines of one song. The effects were never tiring as all three band members played off each other without hesitation. I don't know how long the three of them have been playing together but I can't imagine being any tighter. At the beginning of one piece, Skerik, the sax-player, Coogan, the keyboard player, and Lott, the drummer, all convened by the two pianos and one organ and proceeded to play to each other. We were merely there to observe the pleasure and the experimentation. It's as if they were composing on stage. The band concluded shortly after 8:00 pm, with no encore despite the constant clapping. They made no mention of upcoming recording releases nor did they shill older recordings at the artist's tent, as had other bands. They were there for an ephemeral performance. And then, they were gone. I glanced over at a fellow who'd been one of the "Who are these guys?" bellowers at the beginning of The Maelstrom Trio's performance. With eyes wide open, he sighed, "Wow......".Wow, indeed.
Some Notes:
Skerik has played and plays in a plethora of bands including, possibly the best named band of all time, The Dead Kenny G's, Galactic, Meters, Garage a Trois, and Critters Buggin'. My introduction to Skerik came from these two CD's, both highly recommended.
Some necessary info on Mr. Brown is here and here.
My favorite CD's of his releases are a toss-up between Study in Brown and Clifford Brown and Max Roach. This CD is an excellent starting off point. The New Orleans trumpet player Nicholas Payton selects his favorite Clifford Brown performances. The sound quality is fabulous; loud volume is encouraged when playing this CD.
Here's a YouTube performance of Clifford Brown on the Soupy Sales Show. Seems they ran out of lettering on Soupy's show; it's Cliff Brown on trumpet. Anyone out there remember Soupy Sales' kid's show broadcast out of Channel 9 in NYC, or am I seriously dating myself here? White Fang, anyone?
(N.B.: Clicking on the photos will bring them up to full size. Well, o.k., maybe not full size, but a tad more revealing at least)
Labels: Concert, Reviews, Wilmington
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