Swing Time: Compersion Quartet
Skerik had a very specific vision when he started Saucefest.
“It was created as a reaction to the funk gigs that were going on down in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, where everything is premeditated and there are lots of songs going on,” admits the Seattle-bred saxophonist, who has long called the Crescent City his second home. “It’s like, ‘This is great, but we need some balance here—need something else, something different.’”
Held at New Orleans’ Hi-Ho Lounge the Tuesday between Fairgrounds festivities, during the period colloquially known as the “daze between,” the multimedia fest-with-a-fest he envisioned has grown into a springboard for unique musical collaborations and out-of-the box improvisation since its inception over 15 years ago. It has also led to the creation of the Compersion Quartet, Skerik’s new combo with pianist Brian Hass, bassist James Singleton and drummer Simon Lott, who released their self-titled debut on Royal Potato Family in December.
“Saucefest would just reinforce these relationships—some combinations of people just have a special chemistry and the four of us have a really good thing going on,” Skerik, a proponent of effects-driven saxophonics, says. “We can create music very easily and it’s really fun.”
Recorded in New Orleans with engineer Mike Napolitano during a spirited single-day sprint in late 2022, Compersion Quartet documents the first time the four musicians performed together in this configuration, though they have all been Saucefest regulars over the years. In fact, Skerik has been crossing paths with the musicians for decades—in a variety of other contexts across the country.
“I met James Singleton through Johnny Vidacovich,” he says, nodding to the veteran NOLA jazz drummer. “And I met Simon through New Orleans as well. We used to have a trio with Brian Coogan called Maelstrom Trio.”
Skerik, who initially turned heads with Coogan in the globally minded jazz/rock combo Critters Buggin and has gone on to develop a close musical relationship with Les Claypool, first connected with Haas when his Oklahoma group Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey were originally on the rise. “I remember playing with Skerik in Seattle at The Rainbow Room in 1999,” Haas says. “He put together a magical band— with me in it—to open up for Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. The music was completely free improvisation and sounded rehearsed. My first impression of Skerik was: ‘If I played tenor sax, then this is exactly what I would want to sound like. Equal parts of all my favorite ancestors intact, his reverence for the masters, plus his own voice being constantly developed on the instrument, always makes for something new.’”
The saxophonist felt a similar kinship with Haas, as well as his other quartet collaborators.
“It’s not a preexisting group, but we have a pre-existing sensibility,” Skerik says. “And that makes it very easy for us to communicate and be able to converse musically—just on the spot.”
During the recording sessions for the 11-track set, Compersion Quartet leaned into their improvisational ethos, capturing ideas live and then editing the results into more compact selections. They sprinkled in some well-placed overdubs, too.
Skerik notes that a few of the songs, including opener “Unreliable Translator,” were based off prompts for a film soundtrack he was concurrently working on.
“Skerik acted as ‘the producer’ for the recording session,” Haas says. “He said things similar to—but not exactly like—‘Make it mysterious, then quiet, then a confused marketplace.’ He gave strong visual imagery at times. He’d say, ‘Play less, then not play at all.’ Then he’d say, ‘Imagine yourself crying in the corner, now hike up a beautiful mountain, now fly like Superman and save a lost child.’ He’s one of my favorite humans to work with and be around. Why? Because of his open heart and mind.”
“It’s a very democratic group,” Skerik says. “So it depends on what direction everyone wants to take it.”
The sessions successfully captured Saucefest’s spiritual energy, and the quartet have already regrouped for a few live gigs in the Big Easy. All four musicians have homes in the area—Haas also lives in Sante Fe, N.M.—and Skerik hopes that the project will be yet another outlet for him to add to the city’s rich musical tapestry.
“I did Jazz Fest with Stanton Moore and Charlie Hunter as part of Garage A Trois in 1998, and it’s been a regular stop for me ever since,” he says, noting that he first played the city almost 30 years ago with Critters Buggin. “I’ve played every year except the pandemic and one year when I had a shoulder injury. It’s an important place and needs to be seen as an important hub of music in the U.S.”
The shoulder-blade injury he describes has been a life changing experience. In 2023, Skerik woke up unable to move while on tour with Scott Amendola, Wil Blades and Cyro Baptista. It not only led him to intense physical therapy and the establishment of a GoFundMe, but also made him rethink his outlook on the world in general.
“It was a crazy thing and I thought I was done—I thought I was gonna have to retire,” he says. “I didn’t think I would play again. But I learned a lot from that experience. I’m healed now and lucky to be back playing.”
Having fully returned to the road, Skerik is enjoying his packed schedule. In addition to rolling out Compersion Quartet, he and Haas recently played a local date with fellow Critters Buggin alums Matt Chamberlain and Mike Dillon at New Orleans’ Broadside Pavillion. And he’s excited for what’s to come when they connect with Lott and Singleton again as well.
“It’s just very comfortable and really amazing,” he gushes. “I’m very lucky to be playing with these people and very happy.”
