Jazz & Improvisation / Trio

Elvin Jones' first Blue Note album as a leader, a piano-less trio with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison recorded on April 8, 1968 at Van Gelder Studio, produced by Duke Pearson and first released in 1968.

Debut of Trio Imagination, the group that grew out of Trio 3: David Virelles on piano with the legendary rhythm section of Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio. On Pi Recordings.

A visceral encounter of electric guitar, saxophones, bass clarinet and drums—where free improvisation cuts close to the nerve. On Ecorchure, Jérémy Baysse, Jean-Luc Petit and Fabrice Favriou create music that is raw, restless and alive to the moment. The trio’s second album brings electric guitar, sopranino and tenor saxophones, contrabass clarinet and drums into an uncompromising dialogue—one that moves from uneasy quiet to bursts of abrasive intensity. Across seven pieces, the musicians build …

This recording documents a first encounter. For his 60th birthday, Stefan invited two musicians he had previously met only online. We stepped into the same room, the same air, the same sound. By the end of the night, the trio had already begun. Thanks to Barbara and Norbert at BLOCK7, Bernd and all the birthday guests who supported this concert.

"With a total of three members, Imprints of Experiences captures the largest unit of the releases reviewed here, and its sound is correspondingly (and comparatively) full. Schindler deploys a range of instruments, some heard before (clarinets, cornet, saxophone) and one (b-flat tubax) unique to this recording. Harald Kimmig meanwhile contributes an energetic violin and Eric Zwang Eriksson, an array of prattling percussion. Playing live over two nights in Munich in 2024, the trio offers quite a …

"Recorded live in Lisbon, violist Ernesto Rodrigues joins vocalist Maria Radich and violinist Maria do Mar in a free improv trio where close-range string interplay and crackle box electronics create high-register tension, while voice moves within the texture through whispers and cries, shaping an intimate, spatially focused performance balancing density, restraint, and evolving interaction." - Squidco

Violinist Carlos Zíngaro, violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues come together on 'Pataphysique, a new album of free improvisation that places close listening and adventurous sound-making at its heart. Across six pieces—“I” through “VI”—the trio explores the expressive range of its string instruments, shaping an open-ended musical conversation in real time. Rather than follow a fixed path, the music unfolds through shifts in texture, gesture and intensity, inviting listeners i…

"A Berlin-recorded trio of violin, viola, and cello with voice, where Gerhard Uebele, Ernesto Rodrigues, and Guilherme Rodrigues shape twelve concise movements of hushed, textural free improv, blending extended string techniques and subtle vocalizations into a fragile, reductionist sound world of intimate interplay, suspended time, and finely detailed sonic nuance." - Squidco

Paul Bley's 1971 ECM album of three Annette Peacock compositions, recorded by two piano trios in New York in March and July 1967, with Barry Altschul on drums and Gary Peacock or Mark Levinson on bass.

Free improvisation trio of Jan Garbarek (saxophones, flute), Arild Andersen (bass) and Edward Vesala (percussion), recorded 8 November 1972 at Arne Bendiksen Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. Released April 1973. CD edition.

Double album by Roscoe Mitchell with his four trios (Craig Taborn, Tyshawn Sorey, Hugh Ragin, William Winant and others), recorded live in September 2015 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago during the AACM's 50th anniversary.

3-CD box collecting Codona's three ECM albums (Codona, Codona 2, Codona 3) by Collin Walcott, Don Cherry and Naná Vasconcelos, recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, in 1978, 1980 and 1982, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Irène Schweizer, Rüdiger Carl and Louis Moholo: the LP Messer, live in Moers and in the FMP studio in 1975, followed by Tuned Boots, the twenty-minute trio piece recorded in Graz in 1977.

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Originally released in 1953 on Charles Mingus's own "Debut" label, this is Paul Bley's historical debut album. Here the young talented and technically strong pianist appears as leader of a super-trio with nothing but Mingus himself on bass and Art Blakey on drums. This is a beautifully varied set including both  renditions of classic standards such as "I can't get Started", and Bley's early originals like "Opus 1" and "Spontaneous Combustion" This is where you ca…

Urs Leimgruber, Jacques Demierre and Barre Phillips recorded at Radio DRS in Zurich in January 2001: saxophones, piano and double bass in quiet, closely controlled improvisations where dynamics become the material.

Fred Frith on guitar, Louis Sclavis on clarinets and soprano saxophone, Jean-Pierre Drouet on percussion and objects, live at Victoriaville on 21 May 2000: one extended improvisation from abstract textures to folk-like melody.

Akira Sakata with Shinpei Ruike on trumpet and Jun Inui on drums, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on March 30, 2026. Sister Records.

Akira Sakata with Takashi Seo on contrabass and Jun Inui on drums, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on April 10, 2025. Sister Records.

Untitled (2) reunites guitarist Sandy Ewen, double bassist Damon Smith and percussionist Weasel Walter, recorded at Bird Cloud in November 2025. Tri-fold digipak with art by Ewen and liner notes by Henry Kaiser.

"Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam is a piece in two movements for alto saxophone, upright bass, and drum set. Each movement was transmuted from a two-part poem of the same name, which was first drafted on a bus to my home of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The pang to return to where nature is abundant wasn't something I expected would be so strong when I moved to New York, but Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam is a product of those emotions. Written with my dear friends Mathias Jensen and Eliza Salem in mind, I knew I…

**300 copies** "It’s the classic 'the journey, not the destination' attitude. Dealing with the moment. Dirk Serries, Martina Verhoeven and Colin Webster have a refreshing take on that. They use instruments, but it feels as if they are playing with wood and metal. With breath and touch. They caress, pluck, sigh, thump, blow, push, creak, sputter. There is no obvious order to what they are doing, yet you are aware of a certain concord, an understanding below the surface of what’s there. The openne…

Three improvisers having fun and taking risks. The classic piano-less jazz trio reinvented by mixing melodies, dirty sounds, noises, extended techniques and references to tradition with a quasi-punk approach.

**350 copies** "NoBusiness presents the latest trio recordings by Thomas Borgmann, Jan Roder and Willi Kellers. The album includes the following tracks: The Other Morning in the Park by Thomas Borgmann, Broadway Birdy by Willi Kellers and Chatham Bellbird by Jan Roder.Recorded on 16th May, 2017 at SAE Studios, Berlin by Robert Oeser.Mixed by Olaf Rupp and mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudiosDesign by Oskaras Anosovas.Thomas Borgmann - tenor & soprano saxophone, toy-melodicaJan Roder - double …

There are super groups, and then there are Supergroups.  This trio, comprised of three prolific journeymen improvisers whose work has been recognized across the globe, is neither.  This is a band of down-to-earth, hard-working musicians, whose focus and dedication to the music is exceptional.  That’s not to say that these three don’t have a combined CV that straddles a who’s who list of contemporary music across multiple scenes.  But their ethos is one that emanates from their midwestern locale …

Matchless Recordings presents a live concert by Eddie Prévost trio recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, London on October 17th 2003. The album includes five tracks performed by Tom Chant - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, John Edwards - double bass, and Eddie Prévost - drums.

Matchless Recordings presents a live concert by the Eddie Prévost Trio recorded at Gateway Studio, Kingston, England on 9th March 1997. The album includes seven tracks performed by Eddie Prévost - Drums, Tom Chant - Soprano saxophone, and John Edwards - Double bass. "This trio, quite intuitively (because I never spelt out what I hoped would happen) works in a subtle, attentive way: examining what the music is and where it is going all within the process of playing; feeling the sound to be comple…

Joining their newly launched Luminessence audiophile vinyl-reissue series, the legendary imprint, ECM, digs deep into their own vaults and comes up with an absolute gem: the guitarist John Abercrombie, the bassist Dave Holland, and the drummer Jack DeJohnette’s groundbreaking 1975 LP “Gateway”. Rooted in approaches drawn from free jazz and unquestionably springing from both Holland and DeJohnette’s time working in Miles Davis’ electric fusion band at the end of the 1960s and early '70s, it’s a r…

„Not So Late / Because it Happens“ on CD and „Because it Happens“ on LP is the material recorded live on August 5th 2025 in London at legendary Cafe OTO. Three masters of improvisation: Mikołaj Trzaska on saxophone, John Edwards on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums. They don't use the term "improvisation," preferring instead to speak of "live composition" and the audience, who are an essential component of the concert ritual. The community created by the performers and the audience's attenti…

Recorded at Studio Grez, Brussels, on March 10th, 2025, by Augusto Pirodda and Giotis DamianidisMixed by Augusto PiroddaMastered by Titos Kariotakis at Royal Alzheimer HallArtwork by Peter Jacquemyn Design by Jeroen Wille

"It was once said of Paul Bley that he was the only pianist who could make a concert grand sound like an  upright. While that is not literally true, or only partly so, it makes a point that strikes home on these often  strange, offbeat, otherworldly tracks. It is a quality preserved by Michael Brändli’s typically sensitive sonic  Paul Bley-upright piano Steve Swallow-double bass Pete LaRoca-drums restoration, which increases the probability of rapture. Enjoy." – Chris May

*2026 stock* Dødsdromen means "death well" in Danish, a stunt show in which drivers of motorcycles and miniature cars ride in a circle along a vertical wall, performing dangerous stunts due to friction and centrifugal force strength. P.O. Jørgens - drummer, composer from Denmark known by his own legendary label "Ninth World Music" and band Mokuto trio (where he plays with Lotte Anker on saxophone and Peter Friis Nielsen on bass), collaborations with Mats Gustafsson (Torden Kvartetten) and Peter …

*2023 stock* The eight cuts are credited jointly to the brass man and drummer. Their compositions are rhythmically complex but harmonically simple, making the most of Berger's ambiguous role midway between melody and percussion. They eschew overt virtuosity in favor of a distinctive group conception, achieving an orchestral feel from just three voices. Their arrangements are tight, but loose enough to accommodate Berger's ringing solos, extracting maximum dividend from what might seem limited re…

Onilu is an all-percussionist trio utilizing the extensive family of drummed and tuned percussion instruments to deliver beautifully composed, arranged and executed small ensemble music. Nothing about this all-percussion band feels rarified, or missing anything musical. To the contrary, Onilu create a soundworld where nothing is missing, and everything is musical -- defying the stereotype of modern percussion ensembles as esoteric or academic pursuits, reaffirming the powerful social and sacred …

Together since 1980, Massacre is one of the world’s classic cutting edge rock guitar trios. Opening for Metallica on the stage of the Roskilde Rock festival in front of an audience of 10,000 metal heads, they break out like never before. Here Frith puts down his brushes and chains and whips out some of the greatest flatout guitar fireworks he has ever performed. Three masters of rock improvisation kick out the jams in one of the greatest performances of their nearly thirty year existence. Astoni…

Wolfgang Muthspiel and his trio with Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums (“Together they have something of the empathy of the Bill Evans trio” – Downbeat) goes into its third recording-venture swinging, setting the stage for what may be the group’s most adventurous trio recording with a delicate reading of Keith Jarrett’s “Lisbon Stomp”. Throughout the album however, the Austrian guitarist and his American cohorts turn the spotlight towards Wolfgang’s captivating originals, touching on…

This isn’t your grandfather’s free jazz. Hell, it probably isn’t free jazz at all, but you have to call it something. “Katyusha” is ballistic fire music that starts where the most berserk, intense free music begins and then sustains that, then pushes it further. Blood vessel bursting intensity, stamina, speed, and momentum is here in blinding quantities, all the while retaining lightning fast interaction. No dull roar, the densities and dynamics do vary, but there is never a dull moment or coast…

"What we have here is a result of an idea ignited almost 15 years ago with its roots deep in the era of subculture 1990s, when its teenage protagonists started listening to records. But the comradeship between the three of us started in the early 2000 when I was pursuing my first Utopian idea of an art commune in the form of a counter-festival in the Southeastern Slovenian countryside on the border with Croatia. An idea from which, years later, another Utopian project was born - an international…

"A standard takes on a new shape when it is realized through Trio New York’s methods. Their improvised preludes promote refreshed readings studded with bright accents and pungent embellishments, reinforcing the qualities that have enabled these tunes to endure, be it the sweet sentimentality of “Memories of You” or the devil-may-care of “Just One of Those Things.” By embracing the tenets of free improvisation – experimentation, discovery, and, on a good night, elucidation – Trio New York has tra…

“We are in the business of transformation, applying our knowledge of improvising together for twenty-five years, interwoven with our resonance with these melodies and forms. We have found our collective way with honouring what these pieces express to us, through our personal language, comments Gerry Hemingway.” He agrees that there's a concept of authenticity”. “The feeling of swing is our own, but shaped by the pieces we are playing”. Authenticity is acquired through assimilating traditions, an…

"I've been listening to Christoph Gallio and the various incarnations of Day & Taxi for over three decades – almost since its inception. On this album, however, the Swiss saxophonist makes a debut with a different trio, featuring British improvisers Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders. The result is pungent, powerful music on the cusp of free jazz and free improv – a dichotomy that helps define Gallio's work, though he also composes. Listening to this wonderful album invites re-consideration of the rh…