By John Pluntze

Don't think you're hallucinating if you happen to see visiting New York musician Ross Pederson ( www.myspace.com/rosspederson ) -- who'll once again be dazzling and delighting audiences in equal measure this week at Sun Valley Resort's Duchin Room, as part of the Paul Tillotson Trio ( www.paultillotson.com ) -- playing his drums or cymbals with his fingertips, and/or placing small cymbals atop his snare drum and then playing it that way ... because you are!!!

The young Fargo, North Dakota native -- who arrived here nearly a month ago from New York at Tillotson's request to sit in as a guest musician with that justly-venerated and very popular jazz trio, and whose many musical accomplishments over the years include working with the Grammy-nominated One O'Clock Lab Band -- admits that what he sometimes does onstage is NOT your typical drum work by any means.

"It's still very much a trial and error thing for me," Pederson said, laughing, referring to his often literally hands-on approach to playing his drum set. "I'm always looking for the melody, looking for OTHER ways to convey pitch -- to push it forward and drive it home. Musicians are always dealing with notes and chords -- 'the changes' -- but for ME, anyway, the rhythm and contour of the melody ARE my 'changes.'"

And Pederson's unbridled love for and respect of melody has a lot to do with what immediately impressed acclaimed veteran New York jazz musician Paul Tillotson the first time he saw this young drummer performing at New York's 55 Bar last year. A mutual jazz musician friend of theirs (Lynn Seaton), who'd already seen Pederson perform numerous times there at that legendary blues and jazz club, urged Tillotson to see Pederson's work -- and Tillotson quickly realized that what he was seeing and listening to onstage was not just another jazz drummer.

"Ross has something verrry special going on," Tillotson told me recently. "I mean he's got great, great enthusiasm and energy onstage, but he's also got this tremendous respect for melody that a lot of drummers don't have -- it's actually pretty rare what he does as a musician -- and I guess that's what really jumped out at me when I saw him at the 55 Bar."

That mutual admiration is more than reciprocated where Pederson is concerned as well. "I think we compliment and work off of each other's music very, very well," Pederson said, when asked about working with Tillotson. "My LOVE of melody and groove, and Paul's KNOWLEDGE of melody and groove work really great together. And Paul has such a tremendous love for life, too, which I think really comes across time and time again in his music, and it's incredibly invigorating as an artist to be playing alongside someone like that," Pederson explained adding that, "It's been a very humbling and exciting experience for me to be able to perform here."

Pederson began his musical forays in grade school, at age age 5 (as trumpet player, before later switching drums), comes from a very musical family (his father, John, and mother, Marlys, are both very accomplished musicians in their own right), and attended one of the top percussion schools in the United States -- the University of North Texas (in Denton) -- which is where he also met his current girlfriend, celebrated jazz musician Hildegunn Gjedrem ("Downbeat" magazine bestowed on her the awards of "Best Jazz Vocalist" in 2005, and "Best Jazz Arrangement" in 2008), a couple of whose albums, including 2007's "The End of the Beginning," Pederson happily worked on.

"She is the COMPLETE and TOTAL package when it comes to music," Pederson said, without any hesitation. "I mean to just call her a 'jazz singer' is doing her a great disservice because she has sooo much more going on than just being a very stylish and very gifted vocalist."

Besides Pederson's critically-acclaimed work with the Grammy Award-nominated One O'Clock Lab Band (he did the drum work on their "Lab 2007," "Lab 2008" and "Live At Blues Alley" albums), he has also worked with a number of top jazz and blues musicians throughout the country, including the Jiri Levicek Trio, Andrew Mancilla, and also Bay Area veteran bass player Victor Little ( www.victorlittlemusic.com ), who until this past weekend, was also guesting with the Paul Tillotson Trio, and who likewise has nothing but unbridled respect and enthusiasm for both Tillotson and Pederson.

"It was a fabulous experience working with Paul and Ross," Little told me recently, as he was preparing to return to Brentwood (a suburb just east of Oakland, California). "What Paul -- and also Ross -- are bringing to that (Duchin) Room is something people here should be really, really embracing and celebrating and actively supporting," Little said, adding that, "It's VERY special and VERY rare to have jazz music of this high caliber in a place this small."

As an interesting side note here, although a number of people who saw Little, Pederson and Tillotson all performing together at the Duchin Room at least once thought they must have had a long-established working musical relationship together, the fact is the three of them had actually never performed together onstage before they convened here in Sun Valley for the first time a few weeks ago. In fact, Little -- who met and became friends with Tillotson while both of these aspiring musicians were attending Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Washington over twenty years ago, but who then fell out of touch with each other after graduation -- only just recently reunited with Tillotson after learning about his current whereabouts, subsequently sending him a Facebook friends request, and then learning that Tillotson had an upcoming temporary opening in his Tillotson Trio, while his regular bass player (Jeff Rew) was slated to take some time off.

One of the many, many music-oriented synchronicitous -- and somewhat surreal, also -- events that happened this winter that seemed to make it inevitable for these three very dedicated, talented and celebrated jazz musicians, who'd never worked together before, to suddenly find themselves happily and eagerly performing under the same (Duchin Room) roof ... something that they fervently hope to repeat sometime soon.

"I was very, very excited to have him with us," Tillotson said, referring to Little's time with the Tillotson Trio. "In fact, I'm going to be in the Bay Area in April, and I'm hoping Victor can line up a couple of gigs for us there because he's an absolutely amazing musician to work with -- as is Ross, for that matter."

And Pederson's take on his time performing alongside Little -- and also his current Duchin Room work with Tillotson and Rew? "This is without a doubt one of the best music experiences I've had, performing here in Sun Valley. The audiences have been just terrific, and I'm sooo appreciative for Paul to have offered me a chance to play in this beautiful part of Idaho."

The Paul Tillotson Trio -- with Tillotson on piano, Pederson on drums and Rew on bass -- performs all this week (except for Sunday), 4:30-8:30 p.m. Call the Duchin Room (622-2145) for more information.
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In other local music news this week, fans of the very gifted Peruvian couple, Maria Laura Bustamante and Alejandro Rivas ( www.myspace.com/alejandroymarialaura ) only have a few chances remaining to see these instantly likable and mesmerizing singer-guitarists before they return to their native country. Their remaining appearances in the Wood River Valley are today (Wednesday) at CIRO Market's Wine Lounge in Ketchum (6-9 p.m.), and at Bellevue's Brickhouse bar & restaurant on Friday (8-10:30 p.m.).

And the Sun Valley Winter Artist Series' piano concerts -- featuring Susan Spelius Dunning -- concludes tonight with another 8 p.m. concert (this one featuring music by George Gershwin, with vocals by guest artist Zachary Prince and piano accompaniment by R.L. Rowsey), at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood. A pre-concert talk will take place at 7 p.m. Ticket prices and other information at the www.svwas.org site or by calling 725-5807.