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Peter Erskine earned his considerable reputation playing in large, loud ensembles: the big bands of Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson, the seminal jazz/fusion group Weather Report and later, Steps Ahead. And if he played in a trio, the group rarely, if ever, sported a piano.
Today, about all the acclaimed drummer does is play in piano-bass-drum trios. He just returned to Southern California after a European tour with pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson, who are the performers on Erskine's recent ECM Records album, "You Never Know."
Last year, Erskine, along with bassist John Patitucci, traveled through the United States for a month with a threesome led by pianist Chick Corea. The Somers Point, N. J., native also worked in Italy and Spain as part of pianist Joey Calderazzo's trio, then recorded on the latter's upcoming Blue Note release. Tuesday through Sunday, Erskine joins Patitucci in performing with pianist Alan Pasqua at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.
"As you can hear from the man speaking behind me, it's a noisy world we live in," says Erskine, 38, talking earlier this month from a pay phone in the train station in Milan, Italy, where a voice over the public address system is, indeed, loudly announcing arrivals and departures.
"A lot of music just fits in with the noise we endure over...