an evening with Detroit avant-jazz trio
SKEETER SHELTON'S SPECTRUM 3

Skeeter Shelton, sax; Joel Peterson on double-bass and Jim Baljo on drums.
Spectrum 3 is a fiery, but soulful vanguard jazz and improvised music trio that combines the cry of jazz with various other idioms, including the raw aesthetic of their Detroit home and the extended technique explorations of the avant-garde. Drawing on a large body of composed material, the group varies every shows balance of pure improvisation with playing, and playing-off of, the themes of bandleader and saxophonist Skeeter Shelton. Hes joined by Joel Peterson on double-bass and Jim Baljo on drums.

https://spectrum31.bandcamp.com/

Now in his mid-60s, Shelton is finally getting the notoriety he has long deserved. As the son of drummer and Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM) charter member, Ajaramu Shelton, he grew up around many of his fathers collaborators and employers, including Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman and Fred Anderson.

Largely raised by organist Amina Claudine Meyers, he went on to study with harpist Dorothy Ashby and organist Lyman Woodard. Shelton has been a member of Hakim Jamis Street Band, The Vizitors, The Northwoods Improvisers, The Soar Trio (with pianist Thollem), The Faruq Z. Bey Quartet, the United States Army Band and Joe Texs group. He has performed and/or recorded with Fred Anderson, James Blood Ulmer, Han Bennink, Dennis Gonzales James Carter and Dushun Mosley. At the end of 2021, he released, Sclupperbep, a duo record with percussionist Hamid Drake on Two Rooms Records.

Joel Peterson is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who works in a wide range of musical fields. He has performed with William Hooker, Elliot Sharp, Han Bennink, Damo Suzuki, Marshall Allen, Rhys Chatham, Amy Denio, Salim Washington, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jack Wright, Eugene Chadbourne and many others. His chamber music has been performed by members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Opera Theater, New Music Detroit and The Toronto Symphony. Peterson is a founding member of Immigrant Suns; Cycle of Rejuvenation (with William Hooker); BoxDeserter and Soar Trio with Thollem; Agape Trio (with Alex Harding); Scavenger Quartet (with Frank Pahl); Kindred (with Faruq Z. Bey); Viands, and rock-hybrid improvisers Chatoyant. Peterson also owns and operates the art space Trinosophes in Detroit.

James Baljo is best-known as the former guitarist of noise darlings Wolf Eyes, but he also performs solo guitar-with-tape-machine sets as 696 Blues Band, plays drums and percussion in improvising hybrid band Chatoyant and performs various electronics in CJS. His extensive touring has crossed the US, Europe and parts of the Middle East.