NOTE: This is an early (6:30) performance in the upstairs lounge

Skeeter Shelton is the son of AACM charter-member and percussionist Ajaramu, and was largely raised by organist Amina Claudine Meyers. He grew-up around his parent's collaborators like Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Anderson, Lester Bowie, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons etc. Joseph Jarman, in particular, took an interest in young Skeeter and would play sax duets with him. His early teachers were jazz harp legend Dorothy Ashby and avant-organist Lyman Woodard. He was an original, unrecorded member of seminal Detroit group Griot Galaxy (circa 1974), but left to tour with R&B star Joe Tex for a number of years.

Returning to Detroit upon Tex's death, Skeeter worked in creative music in obscurity for a few decades, but still managed to perform and record with notables like James Blood Ulmer, Faruq Z Bey, Fred Anderson, Hakim Jami, Dennis Gonzales. He also performed in The VIzitors (with the AACM's Dushun Mosley and Kenneth Green), The Street Band The Northwoods Improvisers and the large ensemble, BoxDeserter, with Thollem and Joel Peterson. In the past decade or two, Skeeter has had a slow-burn rise in visibility. In the early 2000's he appeared on record with Blood Ulmer and Hakim Jami. In 2008, he started touring with Thollem and Peterson as The Soar Trio ("the perfect free jazz. gateway band" - Buffalo News), Skeeter's first time performing on the road for an extended period since the 70s. Those tours and several shared bills finally put him on the map in a notable way. This decade he has played with Han Bennink, Elliott Sharp, Hamid Tatsuya Nakatani, James Carter etc.; his most recent release, from late 2021, is a duo record with Hamid Drake.

Spectrum 3 uses the original songs and themes of Skeeter as our foundational material. The trio's rhythm section consists of Joel Peterson on doublebass (Cycle of Rejuvenation Trio with William Hooker, Agape Trio with Alex Harding, Soar Trio and Quintet and BoxDeserter with Thollem, Faruq Z. Bey Quartet, Chatoyant etc.), and James Baljo (ex-Wolf Eyes, Chatoyant, CJS) on drums and percussion.