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June 10, 2026
Dance Recitals, Budget Cycles, Motorcycles, Music and Murals. Long update here, because so much to say....
First, Music:
I'll be with Dwight James and The Royals at Artmosphere, Lafayette LA this Saturday, June 13, 2026, and on June 26th we're playing an outdoor show at Moncus Park Amphitheater. Full DJR Schedule on included image (side or below) and my Calendar.
Modern jazz Movement will be playing the LFT Airport on August 20, 2026, and I'm picking up other live music dates where available. Oh, and check out my good friend and bandmate Dion Pierre at the Acadiana Center for the Arts on July 10th.
Other Stuff:
It's Dance Recital Season which is always hectic and busy at the workplace. I've also been hurriedly booking and issuing contracts for acts that will play in fall of '26-fall of '27. That part is normal.....hectic, but normal. I find solace and time to think on a new-to-me KLR650 motorcycle, that allows me some precious minutes of commute time, exploration time, uninterrupted by cell phones, computers and noise. It's meditative, and exhilarating. It's also saving me a lot on gas. Holy mackerel... Gas prices. I digress.
But my work life has also been odd lately. After 22 years in my arts management roles (which I don't usually talk about here), I sometimes question the benefit. No matter how well we do, it seems our necks are on the chopping block; Or, that some new change is to be thrust upon us, without ever being asked the question, "what course of action do you recommend; what do you need to succeed?" But beyond those minor frustrations and inconveniences, I've been feeling the pinch of the wage gap increase for quite some time, all while surpassing organizational fiscal expectations and leaping over the bar wherever it's set; and all while overseeing the physical decline of a community gem that deserves to be kept up. Frequent budget cuts, status quo budget requirements in the face of increased cost, and failure to prioritize maintenance funds are taking their toll. The frustrations I bottle up and save for close family and friends are beginning to bubble over. My (our) work contributes 12 million to the local economy each year, but I'm (we're-- the whole team--) merely scraping by personally. We all have side gigs because we couldn't make it otherwise. According to EI calculators, 238 other people have fulltime equivalent private sector jobs because of the contracts I negotiate, the shows we put on, but our take-home pay is likely less than theirs. And the balancing factor, the dangling carrot, the "great benefits..." well those seem less and less guaranteed -- and less and less valuable if wages don't follow CPI. My salary, for example, has $1,200 per month less buying power than it did in 2012. I've effectively received a pay cut each year, and now make 15k a year less than I did when I began the role with less responsibility. Which is a shame because promises were made, and lives have been dedicated.
No matter who you prefer to point the finger at, inflation is real. The wage gap between billionaires and the rest of us is growing.
So.... call me if you need mix/mastering (GreybeardRecords.com), audio/theatrical design, audio installs, org management consulting or a saxophonist for live and recordings work. I'm hoping to ride out the other stuff until it either makes sense or doesn't. And, I intend to enjoy making art during the whole process. Because that's the point, right? We're created in the image of a Creator. We are creators.
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Speaking of art, one of my favorite muralists, Robert Dafford, called to ask permission to use my likeness (sort of) in a smaller work he's currently painting. He took pictures of us (MjM) and others and worked everyone into a cool concept that pays homage to our musical melting pot. He posted his progress on socials recently, so I feel comfortable sharing it publicly here. What a cool painting it's going to be! --and I'm incredibly humbled to be included with these great friends and musicians. See images (side or below)
"Robert Dafford is one the most prolific and successful muralists in America, with over 500 large scale public works completed throughout the U.S. and also in France, Belgium, England, and Canada." --Robert is completely amazing. His HUGE murals here in Lafayette and in NOLA have become part of the scenic fabric of my life.
So yeah, I'm humbled, honored. (and stoked)
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Family life is good, and I've enjoy some special time with loved ones including a great paddle trip with my youngest, a graduating senior. One benefit I plan to exercise more of is personal leave. The kids are home from college this summer, Kerrie's mostly off from teaching, and I have built up weeks of annual leave. I don't take that for granted. Time is the most valuable thing we have.
Hey, let's make some music.
March 11, 2026
Live dates pouring in... Check the calendar link for my gig schedule. Next week, I'll be on KRVS 88.7 with Modern Jazz Movement. --longtime buddies, Frank Kincel and Dion Pierre (3/19, noonish). Then I'll be with Paul Tassin at Whiskey & Vine jazz club (3/19, 6-9). Friday 3/20 is a tribute show that is part of the PASAonline.org series. It features Jill Butler and others performing the music of Reberta Flack and Quincy Jones. I'll be on tenor and alto sax, filling in the holes and trying to do Sanford & Son justice. Tickets at HeymannCenter.com. The week after, our trio, MjM, has a show celebrating thirty years of friendship and music. It's all going down at SolaViolins.com on 3/27. Tickets available at their website and at the door. Last but certainly not least, I'll be doing another radio promo/live performance for a great show in April with Dwight James and the Royals. We're playing Festival International on April 24th of this year. I've been enjoying the opportunity to rehearse and play such a wide variety of music lately. Cheers to a busy spring with more on the horizon ;-)
December 19, 2025
The process of going through the old to get to the new is still underway. I have been playing a lot of guitar lately and writing a bit. There is some scuttlebutt about new projects taking form, but my main focus lately has been on work (in the theater and in the studio), more than performing live. New releases are out and coming out, so check 'em!
New Album/Re- Release! Wizard Coyotes
December 18, 2025
Soon available for pre-save! Wizard Coyotes is a free-jazz album, resulting from a session recorded by Shelton Skerrett in 2008 and previously released only in small batch physical media. Wizard Coyotes is Dennis Skerrett on saxophone and percussion, featuring Dion Pierre on upright bass, Kevin O'Day on drums (RIP), Paul Tassin on keys, and Shelton Skerrett on guitar (RIP).
I've recently remastered the project, and put it into the ether. It becomes available for streaming and/or download on January 30, 2026. Pre-save it on Spotify (coming soon).
The album is dedicated to the memory of Dutch Kepler, who reminded us all to stay weird, and to keep pushing the limits of what's been done. He inspired me and so many others over the years, hosting jams at The Ranch, a little slice of heaven in S. Louisiana. Dutch was a visual artist and art professor by trade, and a jazz drummer/music aficionado/connoisseur/collector.
And we remember Shelton Skerrett and Kevin O'Day, both featured on this album and gone too soon.
Wizard Coyotes drew its name from a story crafted like free-jazz, a collaborative tale told 'round the bonfire. --the storytellers made it up as they went along. In summary, "wizard coyotes" can make their way through the night undetected, sometimes disguising themselves as people, even jazz musicians.
No preconceived notions. Pure instrumental improv. Enjoy.
Jill Butler - Live at AcA
November 29, 2025
I just finished mixing and mastering a new double album's worth of material for Jill Butler. Most of it will be used for EPK and video promotion, and I'll post links when I have them.
The live show, recorded at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, was spectacular. This was Jill's BIG band, which included back-up singers, percussion, guitar, 3-peice horn section and some special guests.
The AcA was made for recording. Its main room seats around 250, but it's completely noise isolated, with sound and air locks and a slab that's decoupled from its surroundings. While the recording retains the "live feel" complete with audience response, the room itself hasn't colored the recording with any nasty tendencies, transients or reverberations like so many other rooms do.
I really enjoyed the musical selection by Jill. She revamped and covered some of the tunes on her debut release, Joyride, but also added some new tunes, which were decidedly more straight-ahead and/or trad jazz. I played sax on the gig, and will be on her next major performance in Lafayette, part of the PASA series taking place in the Theatre at Baranco. <<<Tickets available at the link.
[Sidebar: I got to consult on the AcA build project at its inception, and I was their technical director (for hire) on opening night with Lyle Lovett's Large Band. I've also enjoyed mixing their jazz series there from time to time, engineering for internationally acclaimed jazz heroes, so it was a real honor (and a kind of homecoming) to work with these tracks, and to really do them justice.]
Newly Released Album! On Garfield (MjM)
August 22, 2025
Modern Jazz Movement, the original trio: Dion Pierre, Frank Kincel and Dennis Skerrett, released its album of original material recorded between 2003-2006 and shelved for the last 20 years! I uncovered the muti-track recordings and mixed them down over the course of several months. This was a challenging project made somewhat easier by modern tools. The original audio captures were of varying quality and the music was played on varying instruments with varying recording techniques over a wide span of time. We tackled the recordings in previous years and never felt like we could get them up to snuff. That said, the songs deserved another go. All in all, I think they came out great, and I'm happy this time period and these tunes have been preserved by the ever-growing time capsule we call the internet. The album isn't listed for sale, but it's available for streaming and download.
Listen here:
Spotify | Pandora | Apple | Amazon | YouTube
Unfinished Business - Greybeard Records, LLC
July 21 , 2025
I've rebooted Greybeard Records, LLC and begun mixing and mastering for hire. The home studio received some treatment and some new monitors, and the results are fantastic. There's improved efficiency, with mixes better translating to other systems right out of the gate.
Additionally, I've been learning how to bake reel to reel tapes and preserve some of my father's life's work. That library includes some of Louisiana's best known artists, many of whom recorded with him before they were as renown as they are today. Early Beausoleil, Sonny Landreth, Bas Clas, works by Larry Sieberth, Rickey Sabastian, Dickie Landry and more. Early Zydeco recordings of Fernest and the Thunders, Sam Bros Five, Sampe and the Bad Habits; and, rumor has it Clifton Chenier's last recording is in there somewhere.
On the commercial side, most of the masters for his Jingle business are still intact, with some multitrack still available as well. Those include most everything created under the Greybeard banner, but also nearly everything created under SRS (Skerrett Recording Studios), mid-1990's forward.
It's a monumental task ahead to digitize these works, and some of the tapes are probably worse off than others... so each time one is played, it needs to first be baked, and then recorded digitally. There might be only one quality play left in each of the reels.
My album, "Inn Between," is in stores September 6, 2024!
This one is close to my heart. It's my first solo album, produced entirely in-house. I wanted to produce an album of one mind, that emphasized textures and feel, and one that was contemplative, a meditation on a moment in time.
It combines jazz motifs with other influential styles to create a basket weave of texture. Some of these textures are created through the use of rhythmic delay/echo effects on my primary instrument, saxophone. The songs utilize theme and variation, but I often voice the lines or patterns in the melodic instruments rather than in the bass parts. An inversion of traditional jazz form, placing variation before the theme creates a space for more improvisational freedom. --starting in the void and arriving home, with parts converging on the main idea.
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | Amazon | Pandora
Purchase CDs here: https://skerrett-music.square.site/
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