Your favorite "obscure" piano trio recordings

[AndrewHill]

I think we should start a new thread: are there any pictures of Mal Waldron where he is NOT smoking a cigarette

Hey, that's a "little cigar," a cigarillo I think they're called. (I'm a non-smoker now for 19.5 years, former HEAVY smoker).

Ha ha, didn't know that, not being a cigarette/cigarillo aficionado. How about a thread where Mal is not smoking at all?

[BeBop]

Jessica Williams' Nothin but the Truth is a gem from her earlier days. Bud Spangler, better known for his radio work, does good on drums. Swingin'.

[clifford_thornton]

Still my favorite smoking Mal image. Looks like that one belongs in an ash tray.

Now listening to J Kuhn/Jenny-Clarke/Romano Sounds of Feelings on BYG. Good record, but the pressing sucks compared to the contemporaneous MPS records.

[A Lark Ascending]

Only a couple of years old but I don't see this marvellous disc mentioned much:

'Aurora'

Edited January 9, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[Shrdlu]

This one is nice.

I've never even heard of that one!

Thanks for bringing John's name up. He's excellent.

I saw John, with Ron Matthewson on bass and and Martin Drew on drums, at Ronnie Scott's in London, England, in 1974. They were probably billed as the John Taylor Trio. They were backing up Zoot, who was in his usual fine form too. The temporary Quartet gelled very well, and it was a superb evening. I wish they had been recorded, partly because Zoot's recordings at the time (done in the U.S.) had a mediocre rhythm section, and the one at Ronnie's crapped all over it. I especially remember being blown away by Ron's bass playing: he could do the Ron Carter thing and also the Richard Davis, as well as being his own man. Zoot was looking on in amazement. One tune that I still remember from that night is Fat's Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"; I'd never heard that tune before, and it was an unlikely selection, but Zoot really dug into the tasty chord changes, which were tailor-made for him (no pun intended).

Added: I lie, that selection was on the LP that Miles did with Michel Legrand back in 1958.

Edited January 9, 2010 by Shrdlu

[A Lark Ascending]

This one is nice.

I've never even heard of that one!

Thanks for bringing John's name up. He's excellent.

I saw John, with Ron Matthewson on bass and and Martin Drew on drums, at Ronnie Scott's in London, England, in 1974. They were probably billed as the John Taylor Trio. They were backing up Zoot, who was in his usual fine form too. The temporary Quartet gelled very well, and it was a superb evening. I wish they had been recorded, partly because Zoot's recordings at the time (done in the U.S.) had a mediocre rhythm section, and the one at Ronnie's crapped all over it. I especially remember being blown away by Ron's bass playing: he could do the Ron Carter thing and also the Richard Davis, as well as being his own man. Zoot was looking on in amazement. One tune that I still remember from that night is Fat's Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"; I'd never heard that tune before, and it was an unlikely selection, but Zoot really dug into the tasty chord changes, which were tailor-made for him (no pun intended).

Added: I lie, that selection was on the LP that Miles did with Michel Legrand back in 1958.

Ron Mathewson was a beautiful player, sadly long out of action due to illness. Only saw him once with Jimmy Giuffre in the upstairs room of a pub in Nottingham.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mathewson

[B. Goren.]

This one is great:

[Shrdlu]

Ron Mathewson was a beautiful player, sadly long out of action due to illness.

Aww, sorry to hear that. Bev.

I got to hang out with him and the others at Ronnie's the night I was there. Real nice guy.

I didn't know that he had worked with the likes of Stan Getz and Bill Evans, but he certainly was good enough. In New Brunswick, I asked Oscar Peterson if he had heard him, and he said that he had. I don't know whether Ron worked with Oscar, but Martin Drew certainly did.

[alanmck]

Edited January 10, 2010 by alanmck

[king ubu]

Several favorites have been mentioned - Don Friedman (the albums with Attila Zoller added are great as well!), the Wolfgang Dauner on L+R (a recent discovery here, too!), Buster Williams' "Houdini", and the John Williams trio disc on Fresh Sound!

Another one I just heard for the first time: Roy Haynes - Just Us (with Richard Wyands and Eddie de Haas)

Richard Wyands has a fine trio disc available on Storyville, too (with Lisle Atkinson on bass!), "Then Here and Now":

Other favourite piano trios, of the more open kind, included Colin Vallon's trio and BraffOesterRohrer (their website should be here: http://www.braffoesterrohrer.com/ but it's been hacked, it seems, Braff's page is here: http://www.malcolmbraff.com/):

Colin Vallon Trio - Ombres (Unit Records) & Ailleurs (hatOLOGY)

BraffOesterRohrer - Walkabout (Unit Records)

Both are Swiss, both have the great Samuel Rohrer on drums.

You can check out Braff's album here:

http://www.malcolmbraff.com/mp3/?p=BraffOesterRohrer%20%28A-Trio%29/Walkabout

[king ubu]

Alain Jean-Marie - Lazy Afternoon (rec. 1999 with Gilles Naturel & John Betsch)

Reissued on the second disc of "After Blue" (Jazz in Paris "Hors série 5"):

I think his solos are better though... I'm only just discovering his own recordings, really, though I've had his excellent set from the "Jazz 'n (e)motion" box for several years. That one's from 1997 and includes a few wonderful songs related to films (inclduing "Touchez pas au Grisbi", "The Connection", "A Felicidade", and several each from "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music").

The solo disc on the above 2CD set is titled "Afterblue" and was recorded in 1998. It also includes a few interesting songs, such as "Some Other Spring" and one more Irene Kitchings tune, "Ghost of Yesterday", as well as many originals by Jean-Marie.

As this is off-topic here, I think I'll rather start a thread about him!

[clifford_thornton]

Portuguese pianist Bernardo Sassetti:

Nocturno

Ascent

(the latter adding vibes and cello on a couple of tracks)

Edited January 12, 2010 by clifford_thornton

[Joe]

Another one I just heard for the first time: Roy Haynes - Just Us (with Richard Wyands and Eddie de Haas)

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about this little gem. Has to be one of the most purely tasteful trio records I can recall enjoying. Wyands has such a wonderful touch, one that matches well with Haynes' delicate aggression.

Here's one I enjoy as much for the leader's compositions as for his playing:

Michel Sardaby, NIGHT BLOSSOM (w/ Jay Leonhart and Tootie Heath)

And, for John Taylor, how about his ECM collaborations with Peter Erskine and Palle Danielsson? YOU NEVER KNOW, TIME BEING, AS IT IS, and JUNI (my personal favorite of the quartet).

Dick Katz, who passed on late last year, recorded this fine trio session for Reservoir in 1992...

Finally, there's Mel Powell's unusual, but unfailingly swinging trios with Ruby Braff and Bobby Donaldson, collected (but not complete) on the Vanguard anthology THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE.

This thread has been both an education and a re-education... thanks all.

[mjazzg]

Yes, I'd agree this has been a really fruitful thread.

I'd like to add

Momentum by Dave Burrell 3 (Micheal Formanek, Guillermo E.Brown) on High Two (thru AUM)http://www.aumfidelity.com/home.htm

endlessly inventive and percussive. Great recording too

[Guest Bill Barton]

I strongly agree on the initial mention of Amina Claudine Myers' Circle of Time and - a bit later in the thread - Dave Burrell's High Won-High Two. And the Richard Wyands Then, Here and Now (which was on Jazzcraft before Storyville reissued it.)

An album that was one of the first jazz recordings I ever bought is Off Centre by British pianist John Cameron, which is now available again as a CD reissue. Love that record!

Off Centre

Okay, technically it's not a trio record, as Harold McNair plays flute and saxophones. But it definitely fits the "obscure" part...

Edited January 13, 2010 by Bill Barton

[king ubu]

just found this in the sales bins yesterday - after having known a few live sets from dime, it's nice to own something by these guys and the gal:

Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer - [em] 3

I find it hard to put in words what they actually do... it's quite European to say the least, it's groovy (but not of the EST kind, which always bored me to death), it's impressionistic and it goes into some strange harmonic/melodic fields now and ten. Yet it's not at all difficult music I find, and at the same time it's pretty rewarding.

[king ubu]

(...) And the Richard Wyands Then, Here and Now (which was on Jazzcraft before Storyville reissued it.) (...)

Yes, Jazzcraft... sorry for being too lazy to read that up! That was a nice series of Storyville discs there! Wyands, Turk Mauro, Benny Bailey... and one more very nice trio set:

http://www.storyvillerecords.com/default.aspx?tabID=2633&productId=26763&state_2838=2

(it's a single disc, the price listed there is ridiculous!)

Bob Cranshaw played upright bass again after all those years, and Ben Riley is on drums!

[Niko]

just found this in the sales bins yesterday - after having known a few live sets from dime, it's nice to own something by these guys and the gal:

Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer - [em] 3

I find it hard to put in words what they actually do... it's quite European to say the least, it's groovy (but not of the EST kind, which always bored me to death), it's impressionistic and it goes into some strange harmonic/melodic fields now and ten. Yet it's not at all difficult music I find, and at the same time it's pretty rewarding.

seconded, i am really not following German jazz much, but this is a great record!

[king ubu]

just found this in the sales bins yesterday - after having known a few live sets from dime, it's nice to own something by these guys and the gal:

Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer - [em] 3

I find it hard to put in words what they actually do... it's quite European to say the least, it's groovy (but not of the EST kind, which always bored me to death), it's impressionistic and it goes into some strange harmonic/melodic fields now and ten. Yet it's not at all difficult music I find, and at the same time it's pretty rewarding.

seconded, i am really not following German jazz much, but this is a great record!

Are the first two similarly good? Does my description give an idea of how the music sounds?

[clifford_thornton]

Wonder if this guy is any relation to Franck and Heinz Wollny, guitarist and bassist who played with A.R. Penck, Coen Aalberts and those other late '70s German weirdos.

[king ubu]

Wonder if this guy is any relation to Franck and Heinz Wollny, guitarist and bassist who played with A.R. Penck, Coen Aalberts and those other late '70s German weirdos.

I wondered about that as well, but I can't find anything on the web...

Another one that I think hasn't been mentioned here:

ESP' Disk

AAJ article

[Peter Friedman]

Richard Wyands has a fine trio disc available on Storyville, too (with Lisle Atkinson on bass!), "Then Here and Now":

Richard Wyands has a number of other very nice trio CDs available too.

Reunited - Criss Cross

Half And Half - Criss Cross

The Arrival - DIW

As Long As There's music - Savant

Get Out Of Town - Steeplechase

Lady Of The Lavender Mist - Venus

[clifford_thornton]

Wonder if this guy is any relation to Franck and Heinz Wollny, guitarist and bassist who played with A.R. Penck, Coen Aalberts and those other late '70s German weirdos.

I wondered about that as well, but I can't find anything on the web...

Another one that I think hasn't been mentioned here:

ESP' Disk

AAJ article

Lowell is awesome.

Also worth checking out the MVP LSD disc on Riti - Joe Morris, Jon Voigt, and the excellent but unknown trombonist Tom Plsek playing Lowell's music.

[alanmck]

I strongly agree on the initial mention of Amina Claudine Myers' Circle of Time and - a bit later in the thread - Dave Burrell's High Won-High Two. And the Richard Wyands Then, Here and Now (which was on Jazzcraft before Storyville reissued it.)

An album that was one of the first jazz recordings I ever bought is Off Centre by British pianist John Cameron, which is now available again as a CD reissue. Love that record!

Off Centre

Okay, technically it's not a trio record, as Harold McNair plays flute and saxophones. But it definitely fits the "obscure" part...

nothing obscure about that record where i come from. masterful. "troublemaker" even cam out on a Deram 45.

now that is pretty tough to find.

[Guest Bill Barton]

I strongly agree on the initial mention of Amina Claudine Myers' Circle of Time and - a bit later in the thread - Dave Burrell's High Won-High Two. And the Richard Wyands Then, Here and Now (which was on Jazzcraft before Storyville reissued it.)

An album that was one of the first jazz recordings I ever bought is Off Centre by British pianist John Cameron, which is now available again as a CD reissue. Love that record!

Off Centre

Okay, technically it's not a trio record, as Harold McNair plays flute and saxophones. But it definitely fits the "obscure" part...

nothing obscure about that record where i come from. masterful. "troublemaker" even cam out on a Deram 45.

now that is pretty tough to find.

On this side of the big pond I'd bet that not too many people have even heard Cameron's name, much less listened to his music though. Man, I want a copy of that 45! Especially if the Anarchy spinner is included.