The Red Hill Orchestra

Ellery Eskelin: tenor saxophone
Dan Weiss: drums
Jozef Dumoulin: keyboards & compositions

First cd 'Trust' released on Yolk records in 2014

The Red Hill Orchestra is a trio brought together by cult piano and keyboard player Jozef Dumoulin, with two major personalities of today's jazz scene: Ellery Eskelin and Dan Weiss. The repertoire has been written specifically for this ensemble, and enables a blend of Dumoulin's highly personal and oneiric univers with the respective sonic worlds of his american companions. The result is a vast sound-poem that surprises and fascinates. 'Trust' is the first album for this band.
"After having experimented extensively with the Fender Rhodes solo, and having been nourished by numerous and various other musical experiences, I wanted to get in touch with musical approaches that would be different and related at the same time. Ellery and Dan distinguish themselves with a capacity to combine strong roots in the jazz and american tradition with the mastery of other musical cultures such as indian classical music or improvised music. I myself feel very linked to what is called 'jazz' here in Europe but also to other kinds of music that are remote from that. This common kind of relation to music, among other reasons, made me want to bring us together to play. And after these first work phases I'm truly delighted by this adventure. Also, I've always liked the idea of creating a musical environment in which musicians of very different horizons can move freely without having to make too much concessions. This band gives me a new opportunity for that. As for the repertoire, I opted for a mixture of songs, improvisations and more abstract sonic improvisations."


audio: Water Bears from the cd 'Trust'


live video

This collaboration has been made possible through the French-American Jazz Exchange, a joint program of FACE (“French American Cultural Exchange”) and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, with generous funding from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Florence Gould Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique (“SACEM”), Institut Français and the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.