Jazz giant comes to Taos
Taos Jazz Bebop Society welcomes the Peter Erskine Quartet
ONE OF THE MOST REVERED drummers in modern jazz, multiGrammy winner Peter Erskine is coming to Taos with his all-star quartet for an exclusive matinee performance this Saturday (May 21) at 2:30 p.m. in the acoustically sublime Arthur Bell Auditorium at the Harwood Museum of Art. It is a Taos Jazz Bebop Society event, in collaboration with the Western Jazz Presenters Network, the Santa Fe Music Collective and the Outpost Performance Space.
Tempo reached out to Erskine and asked a few questions about life on the road and playing with Joni Mitchell and Weather Report. Here are the highlights.
You’ve played with some of the greats in your career, what was your experience playing with Joni Mitchell?
Frankly, to be in the same universe as Joni Mitchell is a privilege. Being in the same recording studio or stage with her was nothing less than electrifying. Like countless others, I’ve called on Joni’s words and music for comfort and guidance or to enjoy some wry commentary on life — she’s as witty as she is wise — for most of my life. ‘Mingus’ was fun and ‘Both Sides Now’ was revelatory. By the way, Joni’s tracks on that album are probably eighty-five percent or more ‘live’ from the orchestral sessions.
And Weather Report?
Weather Report was the door to Joni and to countless other musical avenues and opportunities. I was young, the music was athletic, the band’s goals were lofty. ‘We never solo, we always solo.’ To say that I learned a lot would be an understatement. More than anything else, that band was fun. And hard work.
How have you navigated the pandemic?
I treated every morning as both a blessing as well as a work day. Shaved, showered, made the bed, dressed-up … it helped me to make the most of each day. After a while, I learned to relax a bit, and enjoyed having not much more
on my agenda than sanding a table top that day or fixing something else around the house.
Musically, I put my energies into mastering the technology required
to make the best and most out of distance-teaching and -learning. With the encouragement of the Thornton School of Music at USC (where I teach), we took the technology about as far as it could go: my home studio has a 7-camera set-up with my drums being fully-mic’d. We then built ‘lesson pods’ in town where the students could sit at the drums and transmit equal-quality work back to me on a fully mic’d drumset with multiple cameras. Like everyone else, I did the best I could. And knock on wood, have so far managed to avoid contracting COVID. Doing our best to follow the science.
I also leaned into composing and we’ll be playing one of those tunes at the concert, ‘Three-Quarter Molly’ (the original title was ‘Lockdown,’ but that’s even more depressing than the song is).
You have a few instructional videos and books, what is your advice to a beginner?
It’s really as simple as, ‘play what you’d like to hear.’ To be able to do this, it requires a lot of listening. Learn the language and the vocabulary of the music you wish to play, and then have fun.
How do you balance life on the road?
Going for walks, drinking a lot of water and being kind to others. That all helps me to find more of the good in myself. Not sure about the balancing part, but life on the road is a minute-by-minute exercise of patience and perseverance. Otherwise, the secret to my sanity is photography. I love taking pictures and editing the images.
If you were to host a dinner party, wwho would you invite?
Vaccinated friends.
What books are on your nightstand?
Does a Kindle count?
Two books: one of them is a guide to using the Nikon Z6 camera (a recent gift from a fellow musician, photographer and enthusiast), and a brand new book, ‘Kara and the Sun’ by Kazuo Ishiguro.
The Peter Erskine Quartet includes: saxophonist George Garzone, Alan Pasqua on Keyboards and bassist Darek Oles
To reserve your tickets and learn more about The Taos Bebop Society, visit taosjazz.org.