Turtle Jazz
Equinox Jazz Group debuts their first album, Blue Turtle
Freddy Sklenar, a designer, artist, musician and founder the Equinox Jazz Group, is about to release the group’s first album, Blue Turtle. This straight-ahead jazz album features eight tunes that cover an array of emotions and includes cool jazz, standards, and blues. With Todd Bartlett on trumpet and flugel horn, Paul Brandt on the piano, Karl Anderson on bass, and David “Barney” Barneson on the drums, this group produces a stellar jazz sound.
“As I listened to Blue Turtle, I felt as though I was on a cross-country-train trip, sipping a glass of wine and watching the world go by,” Eau Claire’s Sue Orfield wrote in the album’s liner notes.
“I felt as though I was on a cross-country-train trip, sipping a glass of wine and watching the world go by.” – Local music vet Sue Orfield on Equinox Jazz Group’s new album, Blue Turtle
Freddy wrote four of the tunes on Blue Turtle and two well-known standards are also on the album. It also features the song “Uh-Oh!” which was written by Dave Glasser, a close friend of Freddy’s from New York City. The song “All the Funky Blues,” written by Todd Bartlett, is an upbeat tune, one that gets really wild with the bass and is easy to get up and dance to.
The first track on the album is “Song for Annie,” a very sweet song that Freddy wrote for his wife.
“Her name is Annette and her family calls her Anne. I affectionately call her Annie,” Sklenar said. “I play Horace Silver’s tune titled ‘Song for My Father’ on the piano and it inspired me to write a tune for my lovely bride.”
Also included is a song called “Wisconsin Winter,” which was the first song Freddy wrote. Moving from New York City to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin gave him a new respect for winter. “Wisconsin Winter” expresses an appreciation for the long winters in Wisconsin and their harsh yet comforting aesthetic.
“Essentially the tune captures a long feeling of winter and conjures up visuals of snow-covered fields and streams of ice,” Sklenar said. “Where I grew up, the winter comes in a month later and is gone a month earlier, so as you can imagine the Wisconsin winter is something to get used to.”
On the inside of the album, Freddy explains why he wrote the song “Blue Turtle Blues.”
“I was inspired by the turtles crossing the highway on their annual pilgrimage to return to the place where they began,” he wrote. “At the same time I was sad for the herculean trek they undertake each spring to cross the major highway and who knows what other obstacles along their way.”
The song has a slow but smooth bass that keeps the song steady, with instrumentals over the top that keep it lively. With the pace of the tune, it’s easy to imagine those traveling turtles.
Freddy and the Equinox Jazz Group will be having a CD release party at the Volume One Gallery on Aug. 28. The party goes from 7-9pm. During the first half of the party, Equinox Jazz Group will perform tunes off of Blue Turtle.
