Trio Playing

In the beginning it's tough to play without harmonic accompaniment. As a line player, the saxophonist will need to convey clear (very clear) ideas -- both harmonically and melodically.

The plus side is, the format gives the player more freedom harmonically and the would-be comping doesn't get in the way if you choose to change the groove and feel of the piece.

By all means, do it!

I think David Liebmann has a cd called "We three", this is just sax, drums and bass.
It can be a good example, I think

Ruben

I mentioned the Rich Perry Trio in another thread. I really dig his sounds and the way he structures his solos. Nothing really fancy but nice and melodic. Thing is, as a sax player you're on the frontline in a trio situation so you must be comfortable with that. In a larger setting, you can sit back more and when you don't have any ideas, you can feed off others. With a trio, no can do....ya gotta make something out of nothing.

Anyway, check out the Rich Perry Trio on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Lov...7963262?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1183167641&sr=8-1

I love playing in a trio setting. It's all about the balance of freedom and responsibility (like many things in life): The lack of a chordal instrument gives you more freedom to take things in different directions, but it also give you and the other players more responsibility to keep the form straight, and to lay down some changes.

I enjoy trying to play some kind of comping background lines during the bass solos.

There are tons of great examples of trio playing (I'm sure there have been threads before), but some all-time classics are: Sonny Rollins "Live and the Village Vanguard", and Joe Henderson "The State of the Tenor" (incidentally, also recorded at the VV)

You can also hear a couple of cuts from my own humble attempt at a trio recording at my website (link below).

As always, I would argue that your resposibility is to make the music that you hear in your head. Do you want to hear harmonic clarity or do you want it to be a little foggier or do you (like many of us) enjoy a mix of the two? What do you want in the music? Make a list of things you enjoy in other players and work towards that.

littlemanbighorn said:

As always, I would argue that your resposibility is to make the music that you hear in your head. Do you want to hear harmonic clarity or do you want it to be a little foggier or do you (like many of us) enjoy a mix of the two? What do you want in the music? Make a list of things you enjoy in other players and work towards that.

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Yes, I could have been clearer. The "responsibility" I was talking about isn't really just about playing inside, or compensating for a harmonic instrument. I would more accurately and generally describe my thinking as: In the trio you take on more responsibility for "getting something going". With fewer players, there are fewer shoulders to lean on.

BTW: Do you have any suggestions for Bari/Bass/Drums trio recordings? I know lots of tenor trio records, and there are the various Mulligan sides with piano-less quartets. But what about trios?

DukeCity said:

BTW: Do you have any suggestions for Bari/Bass/Drums trio recordings? I know lots of tenor trio records, and there are the various Mulligan sides with piano-less quartets. But what about trios?

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If you're into outside stuff I would suggest "The Thing" which is Mats Gustafsson on saxes, Paal Nilssen-Love on Drums, and Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on Bass. Lots of great outside stuff including some great covers of garage-rock and indie rock tunes.

Also involving a lot of free-improvisation but far less aggressive is the trio of David Mott, Gerry Hemingway and Mark Dresser. I've got their 'Reunion: Live' on Intrepid Ear records which is great.

Ken Vandermark plays a bunch of baritone on the second Spaceways Inc. record and Peter Brotzmann plays baritone on one track on 'for Adolphe Sax' .

Fredrik Ljungkvist plays some (lovely) baritone on LSB's (Ljungvist/Strid/Berthling) 'fungus'.

I really can't think of any straight ahead Baritone/Bass/Drums trios.

Anyone else?

I've heard some of Vandermark's stuff, and I'll look into some of your other recs. Thanks!

But, like you, I couldn't think of any Bari/Bass/Drums trios in a more straight ahead vein.

Littleman, are you more into the "out" stuff?

DukeCity said:

Littleman, are you more into the "out" stuff?

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I lean pretty heavily towards the outside stuff and free improv but I listen to, play and love a lot of traditional chord-based jazz.