Sax-Guitar-Drums/Percussion Trios

[mikeweil]

Since my current band has sax, guitars, and me on percussion (or a small drumset played mostly with brushes), I'm looking for bassless trio recording with this lineup, or sax/piano/drums or percussion.

Concerning the latter, I have the classics by Lester Young, Bud Freeman etc. but I'm curious about more modern stylistics. I have Billy Pierce sans bass:

But sax/guitar/drums is what I'm really after - any recommendations? Thanks!

Edited April 4, 2011 by mikeweil

[Clunky]

Since my current band has sax, guitars, and me on percussion (or a small drumset played mostly with brushes), I'm looking for bassless trio recording with this lineup, or sax/piano/drums or percussion.

Concerning the latter, I have the classics by Lester Young, Bud Freeman etc. but I'm curious about more modern stylistics. I have Billy Pierce sans bass:

But sax/guitar/drums is what I'm really after - any recommendations? Thanks!

Thoroughly recommended the well established Scottish jazz group with significant Celtic folk connections, Trio AAB, brothers Phil Bancroft ( ts) , Tom Bancroft (dms) , Kevin McKenzie (g) recorded for the now defunct Caber music label. Their music comes out of a combination of Ornette & Scottish Folk .

Trio AAB

[king ubu]

Ellery Eskelin / Marc Ribot / Kenny Wollesen:

mighty fine disc! :tup

[Guy Berger]

Paul Motian's trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano

[mikeweil]

Thanks a lot - I will check out the first two. I forgot about Motian with Lovano, but since neither our saxist nor myself like Lovano, we can skip that one.

Please keep 'em coming!

[mikeweil]

Downlaoding the Ellery Eskelin / Marc Ribot / Kenny Wollesen disc - my first official download, as the CD goes for steep prices ...

[mikeweil]

Indeed a fine album ... makes me think we should be a bit more daring. All of these players' styles are totally different from ours, but the way they interact and how they treat the tunes is great.

Wollesen is an execellent drummer.

Ubu, can you tell me when this was recorded?

[.:.impossible]

Agreed re: Wollesen. A lot of friends who play drums really love his stuff.

I think this album was 1996 or 1997?

[Niko]

January 3 and 4 1996

http://www.wnur.org/jazz/artists/eskelin.ellery/discog.html

great album!

[Alexander Hawkins]

Zaki - Oliver Lake, Michael Gregory Jackson, Pheeroan AkLaff...

[colinmce]

Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio, while trumpet-led, offers a great blueprint for interaction in this formation.

[mikeweil]

Great suggestion - just ordered this one:

[mikeweil]

Listened to sound samples of the Lake/Jackson/AlLaff Trio - while this is an enganging group, it's a bit too far from where we are.

We play some standard material, but with different grooves and tempos than the originals, like All Blues in 11/4 (with the B section in 12/4), or so what on some drum machine Hip Hop groove, or Jobim tunes part straight, very old style Bossa Nova, part with heavy Afro-Brazilian Grooves.

Our saxist favors Brecker, wrote his thesis on Garbarek (who asked him for a signed copy when he learned about it), and wrote some Oregon-sounding originals, but his most recent is a tune on Solar changes with me laying down some kind of Afro-Samba below. We are a bit more conservative on the surface than the examples suggested, but only on the surface.

[mikeweil]

We keep looking for a bass player, but it's hard to find one who can read, play straightahead with as much conviction as Cuban or Brazilian bass lines, and odd meters just as well. So far four turned us down 'cause they thought they were not up to it.

[mikeweil]

One more problem is, the three of us are at a point where we know each other pretty well and punch out new, rather sophisticated and unusual arrangements of standard material very fast, like three or four of 'em on one rehearsal - most guys here are content to play this stuff the way they are used to, and are amazed and intimidated when they learn how we treat well known tunes - e.g. during our last rehearsal we played a new version of Good Bye Pork Pie Hat on a different groove just for fun, and now we have two versions to open and close sets ... ... one is on some Afro-Cuban Bembé type groove with heavy polymetrics, the new one like some weird old-time Chicago Blues with the guitarist more or less holding the groove while the saxist keeps changing the melody's rhythm and I keep displacing accents. You see, we have a lot of fun playing ....

Edited April 5, 2011 by mikeweil

[king ubu]

Indeed a fine album ... makes me think we should be a bit more daring. All of these players' styles are totally different from ours, but the way they interact and how they treat the tunes is great.

Wollesen is an execellent drummer.

Ubu, can you tell me when this was recorded?

I see Niko has filled you in there... they played Willisau in 1997 and I think that concert is even better!

Great suggestion - just ordered this one:

That's still my favorite Tiny Bell disc! Better than "Constellations" and the disc on Arabesque, I think!

Another idea might be to check out some reeds/cello/drums trios, such as Clusone? Sure, the cello can fill the traditional bass part much easier than a guitar can (or rather: it sounds much more natural done by a cello than by a guitar), but with far out guys such as Ernst Reijseger, you still might get a few clues? Also Clusone 3 has done lots of standards!

This might be a good starting point (I think it was reprinted recently and should be around):

[Niko]

not quite a saxophone, but otherwise Dizzy Gillespie's Digital at Montreux with Toots Thielemans and Bernard Purdy fits the bill...

[Chicago Expat]

All modern:

"Lingua Franca" by Brad Shepik (g), Peter Epstein (sax), Matt Kilmer (d,perc)

"The Shell Game" by Tim Berne (s), Craig Taborn (p), Tom Rainey (d)

"The Well" by Brad Shepik (g), Peter Epstein (sax), Siedo Salifoski (perc)

Also, you might want to look at Charlie Hunter. He's done some odd configurations. I've never been a huge fan, so I don't feel comfortable making recs.

Edited April 7, 2011 by Chicago Expat

[mikeweil]

Thanks - nice suggestions.

I used to have some Charlie Hunter discs, but was somewhat underwhelmed. Especially the duo CD with Leon Parker wasn't loose enough for my taste.

[mikeweil]

"The Well" by Brad Shepik (g), Peter Epstein (sax), Siedo Salifoski (perc)

I listened to sound samples - is there a bass player or did Shepik overdub bass lines? The music itself is fine ...

[mikeweil]

All modern:

"Lingua Franca" by Brad Shepik (g), Peter Epstein (sax), Matt Kilmer (d,perc)

Now that's an insteresting and inspiring record! I will get this!

[Chicago Expat]

"The Well" by Brad Shepik (g), Peter Epstein (sax), Siedo Salifoski (perc)

I listened to sound samples - is there a bass player or did Shepik overdub bass lines? The music itself is fine ...

Must've overdubbed. I don't see anywhere a bass player was credited.

Honestly, it's not my favorite Shepik, but it fit your criteria. "Places you go" subs an organ for sax with some nice results. But it's his Human Activity Suite and Across the Way (his two latest releases under his own name) that really float my boat.

Glad you like "Lingua Franca". I enjoy it, too.

[mikeweil]

I have one of Shepik's CDs with organ - I see it is Places You Go - like this one, too.

[mikeweil]

not quite a saxophone, but otherwise Dizzy Gillespie's Digital at Montreux with Toots Thielemans and Bernard Purdy fits the bill...

I just listened to some samples:

[Chicago Expat]

I have one of Shepik's CDs with organ - I see it is Places You Go - like this one, too.

That's the one. The album doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it probably makes it into my stereo once every couple of weeks, so something in the music keeps bringing me back.

Cheers.