60's Piano trios

[Peter Friedman]

We recently had a thread on 50's piano trios, so it seems like the next step is to move up a decade to the 60's.

After doing some checking of my collection, here is the list I came up with today in random order.

Phineas Newborn, Jr. A world of Piano - Contemporary

Barry Harris - Magnificent - Prestige

Bill Evans - Explanation - Riverside

Ray Bryant - Con Alma - Columbia

Tommy Flanagan - Eclypso - Enja

Jimmy Rowles - Our delight - VSOP

Wynton Kelly - Kelly at Midnite - Vee Jay

Horace Parlan - Us Three - Blue Note

Pete Jolly - Live in LA - VSOP

McCoy Tyner - Reaching Fourth - Impulse

Jan Johansson - 8 Bitar / Innertrio - heptagon

Bengt Hallberg - at Gyllene Cirkeln - DIW

Bud Powell - Bouncing With Bud - Storyville

Thelonious Monk - March 2, 1965 - Columbia

Elmo Hope - Here's Hope - Fresh Sound

Chick Corea - now he Sings, Now he Sobs - Blue Note

George Shearing - Jazz moments - Capita;

Ahmad Jamal - Poinciana Revisited - Impulse

Roy Haynes (Richard Wyands) - Just Us - New Jazz

Hampton Hawes - Blues For Bud - Black Lion

Oscar Peterson - Night Train - Verve

Bobby Timmons - In Person at Vanguard - Riverside

 

Decided to limit my selections to only one per pianist. Could have selected more than one for 

some of the pianists.

 

Edited September 29, 2015 by Peter Friedman

[danasgoodstuff]

Let me put my vote in for 3 trios that were more or less equilateral triangles - working bands where each member was important to the overall sound and the whole was more than the sum of it's parts - to wit: the Ramsey Lewis Trio, the Ahmad Jamal Trio, and The Three Sounds.

Edited September 30, 2015 by danasgoodstuff

[jazzbo]

When I think 'sixties piano trios, I think Bill Evans. Man, such great work that decade. And another favorite is a trio plus one (percussionist), Herbie Hancock's "Inventions & Dimensions". . . .

[JSngry]

Paul Bley

Earl Hines

Now He Sings, Now He Sobs

The Legendary Hasaan

Cecil - the Lyons/Murray group, that's a piano trio, and such music that came out of it!

McCoy's impulse! trios still have that shine of freshness all over them.

And any introduction or that Duke played, be it a matter of bars or of choruses.

The triangle of Jamal/Lewis/Harris is an intriguing one, not least of all because I think they appealed to much the same audience, and maybe had the same veneer, but good lord, when dissected, their musics could not be more dissimilar! Jamal's trio had all these "odd" things happening and were full of spaces, Ramsey was ALL about no tricks no gimmicks, and, really, not too many spaces, and The 3 Sounds sorta split the difference, no tricks no gimmicks, but a great deal of sophistication, spaces as needed, like breathing, as well as roots deeply planted in the earth.

For Ramsey, I prefer the Eaton/White-Jennings trios, but still, Young-Holt, masters at their own bag.

[Jim R]

I thought Flanagan's "Eclypso" dated to 1977...?

[xybert]

There's a lot that i haven't heard, and off the top of my head:

Paul Bley - Closer (was tempted to go with the Savoy recordings)
Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
McCoy Tyner - Inception
Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Duke Ellington - Piano in the Foreground
Duke Ellington - Money Jungle
Bud Powell - Bouncing With Bud (Delmark)

Recently picked up Denny Zeitlin's Cathexis and Earl Hines' Here Comes Earl "Fatha" Hines... early listens but potential favourites!

I really need to listen more to that Legendary Hasaan album. Never quite clicked with that one.

[mjzee]

Barry Harris - Magnificent

This Here is Bobby Timmons

Dave Burrell - High

Bud Powell - A Portrait of Thelonious

Duke Pearson - Bags Groove

Junior Mance - Junior's Blues

Red Garland - Bright and Breezy

The 3 Sounds - Moods

Wynton Kelly - Kelly at Midnight

[JSngry]

It was Jimmy Giuffre's trio, but the trio with Paul Bley & Steve Swallow, that was a trio and it had a piano, and it made amazing music, so, I'll go there with it.

But Bley's own trios of the 60s..every which way you could turn from there, they turned.

Neither Ran Blake nor George Russell did any trio records in the 60s, did they? For that matter, other than the bass-less group, neither did Cecil, correct? Nor Andrew Hill...for whatever reason, some of the most interesting pianists-thinkers of the 60s were not making trio records. Maybe it was an attempt to avoid "guilt by association" with the more pop-based trios going on (I seem to recall reading a review at one time that mentioned "the invisible dividing line between this & Peter Nero-land, in a manner not favoring the trio record under review), maybe it was that they had an interest/budget/whatever to flesh out their music with additional players, I don't know. Even Alice Coltrane, still controversial, I guess, but even though her core group was generally a trio,, there were always other things along..A Monastic Trio as close as it got, and that's a good one, I think, the pure trio cuts on there work for me.

Cowell's Blues For The Viet Cong, 1969, in by a hair.

Anyway...one that's as interesting as it is not particularly good is Roger Kellaway's Spirit Feel, which sometimes has Tom Scott added, but which also has some trio cuts that are kinda out-there/goofyfun. In other words, typical Kellaway!

It's on Pacific Jazz, as were other, much less, uh, "exploratory" trios by Monty Alexander, Craig Huntley, and, of course, Les McCann, whose trio work in those days I can dig as deeply as the bass players take me, no more, no Les.

and of course, Elmo Hope. I think I prefer his 60s output to his 50s output. Definitely prefer that Last Sessions material to any of all the rest of 'em, period.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

"The triangle of Jamal/Lewis/Harris is an intriguing one, not least of all because I think they appealed to much the same audience, and maybe had the same veneer, but good lord, when dissected, their musics could not be more dissimilar! Jamal's trio had all these "odd" things happening and were full of spaces, Ramsey was ALL about no tricks no gimmicks, and, really, not too many spaces, and The 3 Sounds sorta split the difference, no tricks no gimmicks, but a great deal of sophistication, spaces as needed, like breathing, as well as roots deeply planted in the earth."

Thanks for taking my cryptical analysis seriously and running with it - I agree, they are quite distinct flavours.  Never been able to get into the later Ramsey Lewis Trios, I'll take Young/Holt Unlimited (RL Trio w/out RL) over them (RL w/out The Trio) any day, YMMV obviously.  The Giuffre/Bley/Swallow trio is lovely, but a very different critter than we're discussing here, no?  The Bad Plus seem to want to be doing something RL/AJ/3sounds-ish, but IMHO somehow they aren't - thoughts?

[.:.impossible]

It was Jimmy Giuffre's trio, but the trio with Paul Bley & Steve Swallow, that was a trio and it had a piano, and it made amazing music, so, I'll go there with it.

But Bley's own trios of the 60s..every which way you could turn from there, they turned.

Neither Ran Blake nor George Russell did any trio records in the 60s, did they? For that matter, other than the bass-less group, neither did Cecil, correct? Nor Andrew Hill...for whatever reason, some of the most interesting pianists-thinkers of the 60s were not making trio records. Maybe it was an attempt to avoid "guilt by association" with the more pop-based trios going on (I seem to recall reading a review at one time that mentioned "the invisible dividing line between this & Peter Nero-land, in a manner not favoring the trio record under review), maybe it was that they had an interest/budget/whatever to flesh out their music with additional players, I don't know. Even Alice Coltrane, still controversial, I guess, but even though her core group was generally a trio,, there were always other things along..A Monastic Trio as close as it got, and that's a good one, I think, the pure trio cuts on there work for me.

Cowell's Blues For The Viet Cong, 1969, in by a hair.

Anyway...one that's as interesting as it is not particularly good is Roger Kellaway's Spirit Feel, which sometimes has Tom Scott added, but which also has some trio cuts that are kinda out-there/goofyfun. In other words, typical Kellaway!

It's on Pacific Jazz, as were other, much less, uh, "exploratory" trios by Monty Alexander, Craig Huntley, and, of course, Les McCann, whose trio work in those days I can dig as deeply as the bass players take me, no more, no Les.

and of course, Elmo Hope. I think I prefer his 60s output to his 50s output. Definitely prefer that Last Sessions material to any of all the rest of 'em, period.

 

Lowell Davidson recorded with Peacock and Graves, successfully avoiding guilt by association. 

[JSngry]

The Giuffre/Bley/Swallow trio is lovely, but a very different critter than we're discussing here, no?  The Bad Plus seem to want to be doing something RL/AJ/3sounds-ish, but IMHO somehow they aren't - thoughts?

Haven't listened all that much to the Bad Plus thing...I take a taste every so often but never come back for seconds, for whatever reason. OTOH, I don't spit it out with a BLECCCH eitehr. I'm too damn fat, that's what it is, an't everything like I used to, at least not without getting some painpunished sooner than later.

The Giuffre trio, yes, a different beast, as I noted, a trio with a piano, which may or may not make it a "piano trio"...only real point is that Bley was there, and for my money, everything it kinda sounded like Bill Evans' trios could become but didn't, Bley's trios did, and then some, and that direction can be found in the Giuffreeeeee/Bley/Swallow trio's recordings. So, kind of a cheat, but a legit one as far as pointers go. Put an asterisk by it!

But, to raise a question perhaps unnecessarily (or not) if the topic of discussion is to be limited to "piano trios" in the sense of piano/bass/drum playing a totally straightforward repertoire, then does it really matter in which decade they got recorded? If so, there's gonna be a lot of things ruled ineligible once we get to the 70s..especially should Rhodes prove problematic...one of favorite Tommy Flanagan trio records has Rhodes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXFcUkbfszk

 

 

.

 

 

It was Jimmy Giuffre's trio, but the trio with Paul Bley & Steve Swallow, that was a trio and it had a piano, and it made amazing music, so, I'll go there with it.

But Bley's own trios of the 60s..every which way you could turn from there, they turned.

Neither Ran Blake nor George Russell did any trio records in the 60s, did they? For that matter, other than the bass-less group, neither did Cecil, correct? Nor Andrew Hill...for whatever reason, some of the most interesting pianists-thinkers of the 60s were not making trio records. Maybe it was an attempt to avoid "guilt by association" with the more pop-based trios going on (I seem to recall reading a review at one time that mentioned "the invisible dividing line between this & Peter Nero-land, in a manner not favoring the trio record under review), maybe it was that they had an interest/budget/whatever to flesh out their music with additional players, I don't know. Even Alice Coltrane, still controversial, I guess, but even though her core group was generally a trio,, there were always other things along..A Monastic Trio as close as it got, and that's a good one, I think, the pure trio cuts on there work for me.

Cowell's Blues For The Viet Cong, 1969, in by a hair.

Anyway...one that's as interesting as it is not particularly good is Roger Kellaway's Spirit Feel, which sometimes has Tom Scott added, but which also has some trio cuts that are kinda out-there/goofyfun. In other words, typical Kellaway!

It's on Pacific Jazz, as were other, much less, uh, "exploratory" trios by Monty Alexander, Craig Huntley, and, of course, Les McCann, whose trio work in those days I can dig as deeply as the bass players take me, no more, no Les.

and of course, Elmo Hope. I think I prefer his 60s output to his 50s output. Definitely prefer that Last Sessions material to any of all the rest of 'em, period.

 

Lowell Davidson recorded with Peacock and Graves, successfully avoiding guilt by association. 

There's the Bob James ESP trio, but dammit, the guy left all his money on the table after that one....

We should also not forget Valdo Williams, although should ain't won't.

Also, IIRC, Si Zentner had a piano trio that was there waiting for Neil Armstrong when he steeped out onto the moon.

[JSngry]

The one I have to keep:

One side at a time is enough for me, but again, no sense in overeating, especially on the good stuff.

[soulpope]

 Nor Andrew Hill...for whatever reason, some of the most interesting pianists-thinkers of the 60s were not making trio records .....

 

"Smokestack" - although with two bass players - counts as piano trio recording in my books ....

Edited September 30, 2015 by soulpope

[erwbol]

 Nor Andrew Hill...for whatever reason, some of the most interesting pianists-thinkers of the 60s were not making trio records .....

 

"Smokestack" - although with two bass players - counts as piano trio recording in my books ....

And there is an excellent Hill trio record buried on disc 2 of Mosaic Select 16. That makes two, and it wasn't exactly raining Andrew Hill trio records in the 70s and 80s.

Edited September 30, 2015 by erwbol

[soulpope]

And otherwise this one :

[Joe]

 

 

[soulpope]

And the beautiful Martial Solal Trio recordings with Gilbert Rovere (b) and Charles Bellonzi (dr) on Columbia France .....

[colinmce]

 

Neither Ran Blake nor George Russell did any trio records in the 60s, did they? For that matter, other than the bass-less group, neither did Cecil, correct? Nor Andrew Hill...

 

You might could count Smokestack which is a piano trio with two basses, but yeah.  Ran has recorded only one piano-bass-drums trio ever: Sonic Temples with George & Ed Schuller.  It's a remarkable record.

[clifford_thornton]

The Bley trios indeed

ditto on Lowell Davidson and Don Friedman

ditto on Howard Riley; I'd also add his first, "Discussions," from '68 with Barry Guy and Jon Hiseman

Irene Schweizer/Peter Kowald/Pierre Favre ("Santana," PIP/FMP) + Schweizer/Uli Trepte/Mani Neumeier ("Early Tapes," FMP)

Dollar Brand "Anatomy of a South African Village" (Fontana)

Bengt Egerbladh "Schizo" 

as a primer.

[JSngry]

Smokestack...maybe it's my ear-orientation, but the two basses move it into quartet territory in terms of density...same thing with the Errol Garner trio records with an added percussionist (late 60s, early 70s), you think it doesn't matter, but it does, subtly.

Using Giuffre as an example, how many other 60s groups were a trio of piano, X, & Y? Like the Mitchell-Ruff Trio when Ruff played French Horn instead of bass.

[duaneiac]

I'll toss this one into the discussion.  Don Randi is perhaps best known as part of the group of L.A. studio musicians called "The Wrecking Crew" who backed scores of pop & rock musicians on records made in the 1960's, but he started out as a jazz musician with some classical training.  The 2 albums combined on this Fresh Sound CD are from 1960 and 1962.  In the liner notes to the latter album, Mr. Randi said as a developing musician he listened to Horace Silver "more than anybody else", Red Garland, Freddie Redd, Andre Previn, Russ Freeman.  I can certainly hear some influence of the first 2 musicians in his playing on these albums. 

[gmonahan]

Erroll Garner was still doing some good trio work in the 60s, much of it reissued on Telarc.  And O.P. did his "Exclusively for My Friends" records in that decade, which I think represent some of his best work.

 

gregmo

[Jim R]

Vince Guaraldi - Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus

John Young - A Touch Of Pepper

Lou Levy - The Hymn

Hampton Hawes - I'm All Smiles;  Hamp's Piano;  Green Leaves Of Summer 

Pete Jolly - Too Much, Baby;  Sweet September

Jack Wilson - The Two Sides Of Jack Wilson

Eddie Higgins - Soulero

[Joe]

Vince Guaraldi - Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus

John Young - A Touch Of Pepper

Lou Levy - The Hymn

Hampton Hawes - I'm All Smiles;  Hamp's Piano;  Green Leaves Of Summer 

Pete Jolly - Too Much, Baby;  Sweet September

Jack Wilson - The Two Sides Of Jack Wilson

Eddie Higgins - Soulero

The Higgins and Hawes are great additions to this list. I'm also very fond of THE SEANCE, which comes from the same gig as I'M ALL SMILES, IIRC.

Still, and as mentioned in post #1, this is my favorite Hawes trio record of all.

 

Edited September 30, 2015 by Joe
sic

[JSngry]

I feel like Doo-Doo the Donkey Head for not thinking of Money Jungle...