Saxophone Trio Recordings

[paul secor]

There's also the wonderful Hill Country Suite, by the Bobby Jones trio, with George Mraz and Freddie Waits. Recorded in 1974 and released on Enja.

http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/2046.htm

This is a great session, IMHO, and the poor Bobby Jones, while completely forgotten today, was a very good player.

luca

Good one!

[P.L.M]

There's a lot of BRÖTZMANN bass/drums trio:

- BRÖTZ/ FRED HOPKINS/ RASHIED ALI: SONGLINES (FMP)

- BRÖTZ/ BARRE PHILLIPS/ GUNTER SOMMER: RESERVE (FMP)

- BRÖTZ/ WILLIAM PARKER/ GREGG BENDIAN: SACRED SCRAPE (FMP)

- BRÖTZ/ KEN KESSLER/ HAMID DRAKE: LIVE AT THE EMPTY BOTTLE (OKKADISK)

- BRÖTZ/ PETER FRIIS NIELSEN/ PEETER UUSKYLA: NOISE OF WINGS (SLASK)

- BRÖTZ/ P.F. NIELSEN/ P. UUSKYLA: LIVE AT NEFERTITI (AYLER)

- BRÖTZ/ WILLIAM PARKER/ MICHAEL WETMÜLLER: NOTHUNG (IN TONE)

- BRÖTZ/ WILLIAM PARKER/ HAMID DRAKE: NEVER TOO LATE BUT ALWAYS TOO EARLY (EREMITE)

Try also the VON SCHLIPPENBACH TRIO (EVAN PARKER/ PAUL LOVENS). The Last one on PSI, WINTERREISE is a good place to start.

There's also few LACY that you should get:

- LACY/ JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL/ OLIVER JOHNSON: THE WINDOW (SOUL NOTE)

- LACY/ J-J. AVENEL/ JOHN BETSCH: THE RENT (CAVITY SEARCH)

- STEVE LACY THREE (RONNIE BOYKINS/ DENNIS CHARLES): N.Y. CAPERS & QUIRKS (hatOLOGY)

- STEVE LACY/ J-J AVENEL/ J BETSCH: BYE YA (FREE LANCE)

- LACY/ J-J. AVENEL/ J. BETSCH: THE HOLY LA (FREELANCE)

(Both have (very) few vocals by IRENE AEBI)

- LACY/ DANIEL HUMAIR/ ANTHONY COX: WORK (SKETCH)

Check also FRANK LOWE on CIMP (BODIES AND SOUL, VISION BLUE)

You can also try three recent fav of mine:

- WILLIAM PARKER TRIO (HAMID DRAKE, ANDERS GAHNOLD): ... AND WILLAM DANCED (AYLER)

- MARCIN OLES & BARTHOLOMIEJ BRAT OLES + THEO JÖRGENSMAN: MINIATURES (NOT TWO)

- MIKOLAJ TRZASKA/ PETER FRIIS NIELSEN/ PEETER UUSKYLA: UNFORGIVEN NORTH (KILOGRAM RECORDS)

Don't miss one of the absolute masterpiece of the sax/ bass/ drums trio:

- CHARLES GAYLE/ WILLIAM PARKER/ RASHIED ALI: TOUCHIN'ON TRANE (FMP)

And if you want investigate further look for:

- DETAIL (JOHNNY DYANI/ FRODE GJERSTAD/ JOHN STEVENS): BACKWARD & FORWARD (IMP)

- FRODE GJERSTAD WITH JOHN EDWARDS & MARK SANDERS: THE WELSCH CHAPEL (CADENCE)

Edited December 7, 2006 by P.L.M

[paul secor]

Lucky Thompson: Featuring Oscar Pettiford - Thompson, OP, & Skeeter Best - guitar instead of drums, but a trio nonetheless, and a great date

Marion Brown: Porto Novo

Steve Lacy: Capers

Archie Shepp; The Tradition

Sonny Rollins Trio: In Stockholm 1959

The Byron Allen Trio

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Tribute to Lester - Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors, & Don Moye

Anthony Ortega: New Dance! - 4 trio tracks

Paul Plummer - Ron Enyard: Trio & Quartet - the tracks from Acoustic Jazz Trio

John Coltrane: Lush Life - "Like Someone in Love", "I love You", and "Trane's Slo Blues"

Jimmy Lyons: The Box Set - several tracks w. Hayes Burnett & Henry Letcher recorded at Studio Rivbea

Sonny Rollins - various tracks from Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass, Now's the Time, The Standard Sonny Rollins, and The Alternative Rollins

Some more trumpet/bass/drums sides:

Miles Davis: Ascenseur pour l'echafaud - the trio cuts

The Phillip Wilson Project - several cuts w. Lester Bowie, William Parker, & Phillip Wilson - "Cool" is especially fine.

[clifford_thornton]

Wilber Morris - Wilber Force (DIW) w/ David Murray and Denis Charles

Especially fine for the spoken introduction: "My name is Wilber Morris..."

[B. Goren.]

Another great album: Destiny.

Fred Anderson tenor saxophone; Marilyn Crispell, piano; Hamid Drake, percussion.

[relyles]

Archie Shepp - Steam

[B. Goren.]

Archie Shepp - Steam

Kenny Garrett: Triology.

[.:.impossible]

Air

Yes!

Paul Motian - I Have The Room Above Her

Yes!

Don't miss one of the absolute masterpiece of the sax/ bass/ drums trio:

- CHARLES GAYLE/ WILLIAM PARKER/ RASHIED ALI: TOUCHIN'ON TRANE (FMP)

Yes!

[JSngry]

[Larry Kart]

I was impressed by this album and also by live performances by Sexton with other players on visits he's made to Chicago:

All About Jazz review:

Fur

Natural History | Skycap Records (2005)

By Chris May

In which genius guitarist Joe Morris picks up the acoustic bass, forms a trio with two unknown musicians half his age, records just under an hour of totally improvised music... and blows us away with beauty.

Pretty much everything about Fur is a surprise. Morris himself, a guitarist born out of the splintered-note, rocket-speed intensity of Coltrane's late period, who took up the acoustic bass seriously only five years ago, stays much closer to the inside tradition here. There are no high velocity splatter gun runs—not a sustainable practicality on the instrument anyway, unless you're an Olympic athlete—but instead a measured delivery and a more leisurely exploration of sound and texture.

Then there's the band, featuring two unknowns in their early twenties, of whom at least one—tenor saxophonist Joe Sexton—is surely destined for a big future. Sexton's influences—Rollins, Ware, Shepp, and Sanders—are unmistakable, but so too are the first steps in a personal direction. Staying mainly in the middle and lower registers, and heavy on multiphonics and guttural textures, his sound is soulful and spacious and lyrical, a beguiling of the senses rather than an assault on them. Sexton is on mic almost throughout the album, except for brief bass/drum duets and solos.

Drummer Croix Galipault plays a less prominent role—he could actually do with a more forward position in the mix—except for short solos on “Flow Field” and ”Personality Motor.” The former is quietly remarkable: understated, not afraid to employ silence, and very melodic. Watch out for Galipault, too.

Morris' presence is strong throughout the album, but it never excludes the other two players. He sets the tempo and structure of each improvisation—each of the five tracks has its own distinctive character (check out the astonishing arco-driven adventure of ”Things Of That Nature” or the almost balladic vibe of “Flow Field”)—and prefers to dialog with saxophone and/or drums, rather than take centre stage.

The album is in fact as much Sexton's as it is Morris', and you feel Morris—at 55 a towering and hugely experienced master musician—is always concerned to help the young saxophonist shine. There's a heap of beauty in this trio's music right now, but also the promise of even greater things to come.

You probably wouldn't press Morris' guitar trio masterpiece Age Of Everything (Riti, 2002) on someone who thinks jazz innovation stops with Blue Note, but you could present them Fur with the reasonable expectation that they might love it.

[fomafomic65]

Air- Threadgill/Hopkins/McCall (unfortunately their best albums are OOP).

Agree.

This is really a masterpiece in my humble opinion. A great trio, this music reminds me somehow Sonny Rollins' best music greatness, in a different age.

30 years ago Threadgill was already a giant

[jmjk]

Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in with recommendations. Your suggestions have created a listening roadmap that should hold me for the next year!

[paul secor]

Air- Threadgill/Hopkins/McCall (unfortunately their best albums are OOP).

Not quite. Air Time on Nessa is in print, and is certainly one of their best. Imo it is their best.

[B. Goren.]

This is also a great trio: Grimes, Murray & Drake, Live at Kerava jazz festival.

[Eloe Omoe]

Air- Threadgill/Hopkins/McCall (unfortunately their best albums are OOP).

Not quite. Air Time on Nessa is in print, and is certainly one of their best. Imo it is their best.

All their Black Saint CDs are in print as well.

luca

[Parkertown]

I just picked up an Lp of Air Time. VG+/NM for $6.

[Sundog]

Recent vintage Sam

[vodka]

Lots of great suggestions. Since you mentioned almost all classic dates I would like to add a few not very famous albums:

Ellery Eskelin - Forms

Nicolas Simion - Luca's Dream

Gianluigi Trovesi - Dances

Rob Brown - Round the Bend

Assif Tsahar/Peter Kowald/Rashied Ali - Deals, Ideas & Ideals

Open Loose - Come Ahead Back (Mark Helias, Tom Rainey, Ellery Eskelin).

Joe Lovano- Sounds of Joy

Tony Malaby - Adobe

Dewey Redman - Tarik

Chris McCann - Froggin' Around

Kevin Norton - Iron Monkey Trio

Oliver lake Trio 3 - Encounter

Also, any JoHen trio date is worth having , IMO.

Now, a few sessions with trumpet:

Scott Tinkler - Sofa King

Bill Dixon - Vade Mecum

Raphe Malik - Storyline

Hugh Ragin - Metaphysical Question

Trio East - Stop Start

I didn't want to write a description of any of the albums mentioned, since, I think, it's readily available online, and many of you, I'm sure are familiar with them. If not, I would be more than happy to help anybody interested.

[Peter Friedman]

Dexter Gordon Trio - Lullaby For A Monster - Steeplechase

Rich Perry Trio - Beautiful Love - Steeplechase

Bob Rockwell Trio - Steeplechase

[mandrill]

I recommend the Ab Baars recordings on the Dutch label Geestgronden. They are trio recordings with de Joode on bass and van Duynhoven on drums -- both great and very precise players. Baars plays clarinet and tenor sax. He studied with John Carter, and his clarinet playing is obviously influenced by Carter. His tenor playing sounds to me to have the best qualities of Ayler and Von Freeman. The recordings I know are:

Sprok

A Free Step (John Carter tunes)

Songs (American Indian songs & 1 Ives song)

There is also "Four" (Data), which is a quartet recording with Roswell Rudd, who inserts some bizarre soliloquy during a medley.

"Party at the Bimhuis" (Wig) has trio recordings and also other recordings with guests. One with Guus Janssen on piano is fabulous, and the playing of Monk's "Reflections" with Misha Mengelberg on piano may be the best recording of that tune.

You mentioning Ab Baars triggered my recommendation of Michael Moore (no, not THAT ONE) trio w/Lindsey Horner & Michael Vatcher. They two CDs of Dylan music (Jewels & Binoculars & Floater) are sublime. They are on dutch label Ramboy & last time I checked were available from Verge Music for $14 Canadian.

[mandrill]

Wilber Morris - Wilber Force (DIW) w/ David Murray and Denis Charles

Especially fine for the spoken introduction: "My name is Wilber Morris..."

Another great Wilber Morris Trio is the one with Charles Tyler & Denis Charles on Blue Regard called "Collective Improvisations".

[mikeweil]

John Klemmer - Nexus (RCA Novus) (partly sax-drums duo)

Look for the double LP, as the CD omits several tracks. Don't hesitate, this is the most energetic blowing Klemmer did!

[clifford_thornton]

Wilber Morris - Wilber Force (DIW) w/ David Murray and Denis Charles

Especially fine for the spoken introduction: "My name is Wilber Morris..."

Another great Wilber Morris Trio is the one with Charles Tyler & Denis Charles on Blue Regard called "Collective Improvisations".

Thanks! Don't have that one...

[jlhoots]

Teddy Edwards: Tango In Harlem (with McBride & Higgins)

[Guy Berger]

Another Sax Player I always enjoy his trios is Odean Pope. I especially recommend Pope's "Ebioto" with Tyrone Brown (b), Craig McIver(d) on the knitting Factory label.

I changed my mind about this record after listening to it today -- it's excellent! Fans of Sonny Rollins should definitely check it out.

Guy