Heller stirs a musical gumbo

ANYONE walking through the doors of Memphis, Tenn.'s, legendary Sun Studio can't help but feel immersed in history. This tiny room was, after all, instrumental in the development of American music, introducing the world to the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Howlin' Wolf.

But when guitarist Skip Heller stepped through Sun's doors last fall to record "Along the Anchorline," his personal history was weighing on his mind as much as the folklore of the room.

" 'Along the Anchorline' was made at a really difficult juncture of my life," Heller said, "where the only place I could find my life was in the rearview mirror. Marriage: rearview mirror. Life in California: rearview mirror. What's in front? The road and more of it. It dawned on me that what you love will sustain you until it wears you out. It wasn't too hard to figure out what was going to happen next."

What happened next was that Heller left Los Angeles, where he'd moved 12 years earlier, and returned home to Philadelphia.

The May move came amidst a flurry of activity. Besides "Anchorline," he has an intimate new duo recording with pianist/accordionist Heath Allen; a tribute to Philly singer/pianist Eric Spiegel, who died recently, recorded with the great vocalist Bob Dorough and available for download at Heller's Web site; and a new score for the pinball documentary "Tilt!"

While leaving California was definitely his plan, moving back to Philly happened more spontaneously. He'd never stayed away for long, returning to play at Tritone or Ortlieb's Jazzhaus several times a year, and he'd watched as a new and vibrant music and arts scene sprang up in his native city.

But he was also considering a move South, where he had recorded most of his recent records. Then he came back for a visit and "fell in love with Philadelphia all over again."

"I forgot how great this place is when it's great," Heller said. "When I left Philadelphia, it wasn't because I didn't like what was happening here, it was because I couldn't find what was happening here. There were tumbleweeds blowing down Chestnut Street."

Offers of work were plentiful in L.A.

Over the ensuing decade-plus, Heller played with rockabilly and doo-wop groups, wrote music for film and television, and toured his own music extensively. But as his frequent use of the Philly-centric organ trio format showed, home was never far from his mind.

Since his return, Heller has assembled a bluegrass quartet, which will play the Trocadero on Tuesday, and - most excitingly - a new organ trio that's been gigging regularly in town since Heller's return.

When the 41-year-old guitarist found 22-year-olds Marc Kaplan and Lucien Dowdell (on organ and drums, respectively), he realized he had something special.

"With Marc, there's such a great creative imagination at work," Heller said. "He's got this Gil Evans-meets-Charles Mingus way of building arrangements against your solo. Lucien is sort of a cross between Jack DeJohnette and ?uestlove from the Roots.

"We play really hard and well together live. We walk off the bandstand glistening. And when we hit the wall, boy do we come apart in a million entertaining pieces."

The trio, dubbed East Is East, has so far proved a ripe template for Heller's sonic explorations.

"The perception of the trio, depending on where you go, is very different," Heller explained. "In the South, we're seen as some sort of avant-garde party band, which is fine with me. People say, 'A minute ago they were playing something that sounded like Captain Beefheart doing klezmer music, and now they're covering Link Wray.'

"Then in New York, we seem to be categorized as an avant-garde roots band, which also makes sense to me."

The roots designation seems appropriate, though not necessarily in the usual sense of tradition-minded folk artists. Heller certainly wears his country and bluegrass influences proudly, but he's hardly a revivalist.

The tag fits instead because Heller seems to tear genres up by their roots, recombining them into a gumbo with recognizable elements but which never feels like pastiche.

Heller is a cultural omnivore. He's a virtual encyclopedia of music and maintains an infectious enthusiasm that vehemently avoids snobbishness.

Our conversation encompassed everything from saxophonist Cannonball Adderley to singer/songwriter John Hartford to film director Wes Anderson to comedian Lewis Black, British calypso and Brazilian post-punk.

And each stop seemed retrospectively evident in Heller's playing, which glides easily between Count Basie swing and Jimmy Smith grooves, Louis Armstrong ebullience and punk-rock attitude, bluegrass twang and West Coast cool, Duke Ellington elegance and rockabilly sneer.

"I think anyone who was in Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives or Hot Sevens would recognize what we do as jazz," Heller said. "But people who've been raised in such a post-Miles Davis atmosphere wouldn't necessarily recognize it as jazz because we're doing Bowie tunes or XTC tunes. I don't think the recipe was ever to turn jazz into a 'what.' I think the whole point is jazz is a 'how.' " *

Send e-mail to bradys@phillynews.com.

Skip Heller's East Is East Trio, Tritone, 1508 South St., 8 p.m. Sunday, $10 cover includes CD "Along the Anchorline," 215-545-0475, www.tritonebar.com; Skip Heller Bluegrass Quartet, Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 8 p.m. Tuesday, $8, 215-922-LIVE, www.thetroc.com.