by John Pluntze

I took it as a very good omen recently that the very same day I was going to see the Tillotson Trio up at the Duchin Room, I found a terrific 1964 book about jazz ("Jazz Panorama," edited by Martin Williams) at The Gold Mine, which features profiles on such jazz legends as Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Minor Hall, Art Tatum, Jimmie Lunceford, Lester Young, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Lightnin' Hopkins.

Hadn't seen the Paul Tillotson's trio in the Duchin for more than a year, but my interest in his music was recently revitalized a thousand fold after I saw both the Friday and Saturday night shows at Whiskey's a few weeks ago when Tillotson joined blues legend Bill Sims, Jr., drummer Josh Kelly  and stellar sax player Pete Peterson for what were easily two of the verrrrry best concerts I've ever seen at Whiskey's in the 16 years I've lived here!! (Type "Bill Sims Jr." into your search engine and then see if you think the words "blues legend" don't fully apply!!)

Part of me, in fact, was a bit hesistant about seeing Tillotson at the Duchin because I still had such vivid and radiantly wonderful memories of those amazingly accomplished and exciting two back-to-back Whiskey's shows coursing through my mind.

But no sooner did Tillotson join drummer Josh Kelly and bass player Jeff Rew up on stage, than whatever lingering reservations or doubts I had about seeing them seriously kickin' it in THAT venue quickly dissipated.

As with Duchin Room regulars Bruce Innes and Leana Leach, whom I likewise happily and eagerly profiled in this "Harmonic Convergence" (local music scene-oriented) column back in December of last year, Tillotson seems bound and determined to eradicate that lingering (and frequently verrrry unfair and narrow-minded) "Wrinkle Room" stereotype that STILL dogs the Duchin.

There was absolutely nothing about the two-hours I saw there that conjured about words like "stuffy" or "boring" or "sedate" about that very entertaining and eclectic Duchin Room show that Tillotson, Rew and Kelly performed there.

If you've ever visited his www.paultillotson.com site, you know already that Tillotson is an avid admirer of, and was mentored by, the late jazz great Gene Harris (who spent the last 20 years of his life in Boise and who died in 2000). Tillotson first met Harris when he was still a student at Borah High School, and was eventually part of group of aspiring local musicians from the Boise area whom Harris dubbed the "Young Jazz Lions" ... a group that included rival Capital High School student (and now acclaimed jazz vocalist) Curtis Stigers, who, like Tillotson, was a drum major for the class of '83 at his school.

Tillotson is one of the very few musicians who has attended the Gene Harris Jazz Festival every year since is inception 13 years go. After Harris died, Tillotson made a point of setting up an annual music scholarship program at Borah High School. Besides Harris, Tillotson has performed at a number of jazz festivals around the country (the Montreaux, the Den Haag, Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble, the Gene Harris, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, etc) and with a myriad of first-rate musicians, including Lynn Seaton, Vernel Fournier, Mike Merritt, James Wormworth, Lew Soloff, Chris Minh Doky, Luther Hughes, Paul Kreibich, Matt Wilson, Mark Pender, Red Holloway and Diana Krall (the latter of whose music I listen to constantly, especially her "Love Scenes" and "from this moment on" albums).

And then, of course, there's also the fact I learned just very recently that Tillotson has been based, since 1989, in New York City (my hometown!!), so needless to say I had A LOT on VERY high hopes and expectations and on my mind that afternoon when I went to see the Tillotson Trio at the Duchin.

And they sooooo did NOT disappoint -- not in the slightest!!!

Whether it was "Loungin' @", "Funky Good Time," "Where's Eric," "Seltzer" (The Snow Song), "Morphine" (mentioned, btw, on page 358 of a Star Trek novel -- "Harbinger," by David Mack -- that includes the line: "A key change helped her find a roundabout passage into Paul Tillotson's moody instrumental 'Morphine'"), "Dizzy," "Shotgun Boogie," "C Jam Blues," "Lindy Hop Blues," "Tequila Time," "The Charlie Brown Theme," "Apple Blossom," "Gena's Song," "Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me," "The Evelyn," "Tid Bits,"  "4pm," "Easy Does It," "Blues for Stephanie" "The Beautiful Ones," or "The Way Look Tonight" -- many of which are featured on the three unequivocally terrific Tillotson CDs he's produced: "Funky Good Time" (2002), "Tequila Time!" (2005) and "Lindy Hop Blues: Live at Jelly Roll" (2008) -- Tillotson, Kelly and Rew left their very large audience that evening smiling and humming in equal measure.

Tillotson said at one point, after he'd finished playing a composition he wrote earlier this winter and which he was premiering there the day I saw the trio performing it, "It's always nice to have something fresh in your refrigerator!" And "fresh" is definitely a word that came to mind repeatedly for me listening to many of the selections they played that afternoon in the Duchin. Even such old cover standards as The Beatles' "Blackbird" (which, to be honest, isn't exactly a fave of mine even when I hear THE BEATLES performing it -- but then again, I was always MUCH MORE a fan of The Who, anyway!! LOL) and other popular tunes by Prince, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Wonder had a verrry original and bold sound to them, as did the trio's delightfully-infectious renditions of various Duke Ellington and Count Bassie classics. 

We're very fortunate to have Boise native Paul Tillotson -- and also Jeff Rew and Josh Kelly -- performing regularly in our Valley here (the trio performs at the Duchin every Tuesday-Saturday, 4:30-8:30pm), and I  sincerely hope you make time to see them there soon.

And also please, please don't forget to mark Feb. 19 & 20 on your calendar because if those two upcoming Boiler Room gigs with Tillotson and Bill Sims, Jr. again -- also guest guitarist Adam Levy this time around -- are even HALF as electrifying and dazzling and jaw-droppingly memorable as those two shows I saw 'em perform together at Whiskey's, the Feb. 19th & 20th Boiler Room shows are going to be the stuff of LEGENDS for many years to come here ... and deservedly so!!
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Questions of comments regarding this "Harmonic Convergence" column can be sent to John directly at: WritestuffIdaho@gmail.com And to read an of John's previous "HC" columns -- which include raves on local faves Molly and Josiah Venter, Bruce Innes, Cow Says Mooo, and FourStroke Bus -- simply type "John Pluntze" into the SVO search engine here.