“I MUST SAY BRAVO. I’M PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED WITH THE GROWING EMPATHY OF THE TRIO; THE QUALITY AND VARIETY OF THE “COVERS,” AND BASS’ ABILITY TO AVOID BOTH SLAVISH IMITATION AND NOVELTY-FOR-NOVELTY’S SAKE IN HIS INTERPRETATIONS; THE PROGRAMMATIC BALANCE CREATED BY BASS’ ORIGINALS, OF WHICH I FIND “MAY” PARTICULARLY ATTRACTIVE; AND THE LEAN STRENGTH OF THE —
- Bob Blumenthal/2-time Grammy winner
““DAVE BASS/THE TRIO V. 2: SUPPOSE COCKTAIL JAZZ GOT MOVED TO A REAL LISTENING ROOM AND THE PIANO MAN REALLY TORE INTO THAT KEYBOARD. THAT’S WHAT WE GET HERE FROM A PIANO MAN NAMED BASS. TEARING INTO WORTHY MATERIAL THAT DOESN’T PLAY EASY, HE’S A BADASS JAZZBO THROUGH AND THROUGH. A HIGH OCTANE SET THAT EVEN MAKES IT’S FEW FAMILIAR STOPS SEEM NEW, IT’S THE EAR OPENER YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.”
- Chris Spector / The Midwest Record
“DAVE BASS PLAYS…PIANO (GO FIGURE!), AS HE LEADS HIS TRIO OF KERRY KASHIWAGI/B AND SCOTT GORDON/DR THROUGH A MIX OF BOPPERS, BALLADS AND ORIGINALS. OF THE FORMER, HIS ALLEGIANCE IS MADE CLEAR AS HE SIZZLES AROUND GORDON’S KINETIC DRUMS ON BUD POWELL’S “TEMPUS FUGIT” AND HAS FUN WITH THE SNAPPY VERSION OF THELONIOUS MONK’S “FOUR IN ONE”. GORDON’S MALLETS ADD TO THE SOMBER ATMOSPHERE OF “GREEN LEAVES OF SUMMER” WHILE KASHIWAGI MOURNS ON A BLUESY AND DESULTORY “I FALL IN LOVE TO EASY”, WHILE SWINGING TO DENNY ZEITLIN’S “CAROLE’S GARDEN”. GUITARIST BARRY FINNERTY JOINS IN FOR A JABBING AND JIVING THREE LEGGED RACE OF “GANDINGO, MONDONGO Y SANDUNGO” AND SEARS THROUGH THE LEADER’S RUBATO OF “BALTIC BOLERO”. REWARDING INTERPLAYS THROUGHOUT.”
–George W. Harris / JazzWeekly
“A REMINDER OF WHAT A BOUNTIFUL SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IS THIS VENERATED INSTRUMENTAL JAZZ CONFIGURATION, THE SOLE APPEARANCE OF GUITARIST BARRY FINNERTY (MILES DAVIS, BRECKER BROS., BILLY COBHAM) ON THE COLORFULLY-TITLED “BALTIC BOLERO” ONLY UNDERSCORES THE ALMOST SUBLIMINAL VARIETY OF COMPOSITIONS HERE. RANGING FROM SOURCES INCLUDING DENNY ZEITLIN, BUD POWELL, ANDREW HILL AND BASS HIMSELF (IN FOUR INSTANCES), SPARE TAKES ON UNORTHODOX MATERIAL SOUND LIKE AN UNENDING EXPOSITION OF IMAGINATION; WITH CONSUMMATE GRACE AND ALACRITY, THE MUSICIANS CONTOUR THEIR MOTION THROUGH THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF CONVOLUTED MATERIAL COMMENCING SO EMPHATICALLY WITH ANNETTE PEACOCK’S”EL CORDOBES.” BASS INVARIABLY LEADS THE CHARGE WITH HIS ASSERTIVE PIANO WORK, BUT HE IS OTHERWISE HARDLY MORE AUTHORITATIVE OR LITHE OF TOUCH THAN HIS COUNTERPARTS KERRY KASHIWAGI AND SCOTT GORDON ON BASS AND DRUMS RESPECTIVELY.”
–Doug Collette / Glide Magazine
“JUST WHEN YOU THINK THAT THE OFFERINGS OF PIANISTS IN THE SETTING OF A PIANO TRIO IS BECOMING A TAD TIRED, ALONG COMES A RECORDING THAT MAKES YOU SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE… AND REALISE THAT IN THE RIGHT PAIR OF HANDS THE PIANO TRIO CAN BECOME SOMETHING ALTOGETHER BRACING – AND BREATHTAKING. THE “RIGHT HANDS”, IN THIS INSTANCE [AS IN MANY INSTANCES PAST] ARE THOSE BELONGING TO DAVE BASS. IT ISN’T HARD TO NOTICE WHY IT’S EASY TO FALL PREY TO THE CHARMS OF MR BASS AND TO BE SMITTEN BY HIS CONSIDERABLE GIFTS.
MR BASS – FIRST AND FOREMOST – SEEMS TO BE A STUDENT OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. BEING A “STUDENT” THESE DAYS CONNOTES SOMEONE WHO IS BEING FORMED; NOT YET MATURE… MR BASS IS BOTH OF THOSE THINGS. AND YOUNGER MUSICIANS SHOULD NOTE HOW THEY CAN BE USED TO CONSIDERABLE ADVANTAGE. FOR ONE THING: MR BASS IS ACUTELY AWARE OF THE “HISTORY” AND THE “MUSICAL ANCESTORS” WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE HIM. SECONDLY, THE PIANIST HAS NEVER LOST HIS SENSE OF CURIOSITY.
THIS HAS RESULTED IN MANY HOURS OF STUDY AND PROBING THE HEART AND SOUL OF EVERY MUSICAL COMPOSITION ON THIS ALBUM, HUMBLY – AND NONDESCRIPTLY – ENTITLED THE TRIO VOL. 2; ALSO SOMETHING YOU SHOULD NOT MISS AS IN DOING SO MR BASS GIVES NOTICE THAT EVERYTHING HE DOES IS ALWAYS IN THE SERVICE OF THE MUSIC HE PAYS HOMAGE TO AND NEVER TO OBSCURE IT THROUGH GRATUITOUS VIRTUOSITY.
AND SPEAKING OF VIRTUOSITY MR BASS HAS THIS IN SPADES. CONSIDER HOW HE NAVIGATES THE DIABOLICAL TWISTS AND TURNS – AND CONFLICTING PERSONALITIES – OF “EL CORDOBÉS” A COMPOSITION BY THE INCOMPARABLE ANNETTE PEACOCK ABOUT A MATADOR WHO IS BY TURNS HEROIC AND VULNERABLE. CONSIDER HOW THE PIANIST MAKES THIS DICHOTOMY WORK MUSICALLY BY USING SEEMINGLY OPPOSING COUNTER-MELODIES AND RHYTHMIC VARIANCES TO CONJURE “EL CORDOBÉS”.
CONSIDER ALSO HOW ADEPT MR BASS IS AS HE RUNS DOWN “TEMPIS FUGIT” A MANIC COMPOSITION BY THE GREAT BUD POWELL. IF EVER THERE WAS A PRETERNATURAL COMPOSITION BY MR POWELL, THEN THIS IS IT. MR BASS MAKES YOU THINK OF BUD POWELL – EVERY MOMENT THAT HIS LIFE UNWOUND AND DISINTEGRATED INTO DARKNESS. AND YET THE MUSIC REMAINS TRIUMPHANT – BUD POWELL’S TRIUMPH OVER DISABILITY IN EVERY SINGLE WAY – MELODIC, HARMONIC AND RHYTHMIC IN WHAT IS WRITTEN AND IN HOW MR POWELL MADE THOSE NOTES TAKE WING.
MR BASS’ TAKE ON “FOUR IN ONE”, THAT MAGICAL AND QUIXOTIC WORK BY [HIS ROYAL “OUTNESS”] THELONIOUS MONK IS ALSO QUITE REMARKABLE – MOST OF ALL BECAUSE MR BASS PUTS SUCH AN INDIVIDUALISTIC SPIN ON THE MELODY AS WELL AS IN THE RHYTHMIC INVENTION THAT HE IMPELS THE MELODY WITH. THE SUBLIME DARKNESS THAT MR BASS IMPARTS TO “BLACK MONDAY” BY ANDREW HILL IS ALTOGETHER SUPERB.
TO GO BACK TO THE FACT OF MR BASS BEING AN AVID LEARNER ONE MUST SAY THAT HIS DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING OF STANDARDS IS QUITE REMARKABLE. BUT JUST AS REMARKABLE IS THE MANNER IN WHICH HE ALSO FINDS SOMETHING NEW WITH WHICH TO “SING” THE SONG’S MELODY. “GREEN LEAVES OF SUMMER”, “I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY” AND “LOVE LETTERS” ARE PURE MUSICAL GOLD.
THERE ARE TWO WONDERFUL EXAMPLES OF THE PIANIST’S UNDERSTANDING AND LOVE FOR AFRO-CUBAN MUSIC: “BALTIC BOLERO” AND THE MAMBO “GANDINGA, MONDONGO Y SANDUNGA” BY THAT IRRREPRESSIBLE GENIUS FRANK EMILIO FLYNN. AND FINALLY WHEN YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY MUSICALLY YOU’D BETTER HAVE MUSICAL PARTNERS WHO ARE ATTUNED TO YOUR ARTISTIC VISION.
THESE MR BASS HAS FOUND IN CONTRABASSIST KERRY KASHIWAGI AND DRUMMER SCOTT GORDON. BOTH MEN ARE NOT EXACTLY MUSICAL WALL-FLOWERS AND FIND WAYS TO EXPRESS THEIR OWN MUSICALITY ON MANY OCCASIONS. HAVING GUITARIST BARRY FINNERTY ALONG FOR THE RIDE IS EASILY THE APOGEE OF THIS PRODUCTION – ESPECIALLY ON “GANDINGA, MONDONGO Y SANDUNGA”…
TRACKS – 1: EL CORDOBÉS; 2: MAY; 3: TEMPIS FUGIT; 4: YUGEN; 5: FOUR IN ONE; 6: BLACK MONDAY; 7: CAROLE’S GARDEN; 8: GREEN LEAVES OF SUMMER; 9: THE SIXTIES; 10: I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY; 11: LOVE LETTERS; 121: BALTIC BOLERO; 13: GANDINGA, MONDONGO Y SANDUNGA
MUSICIANS – DAVE BASS: PIANO; KERRY KASHIWAGI: CONTRABASS; SCOTT GORDON: DRUMS. SPECIAL GUEST – BARRY FINNERTY: GUITAR
RELEASED – 2022
LABEL – INDEPENDENT
RUNTIME – 1:02:42”
–Raul Da Gama/Latin Jazz Network
“TRUE TO ITS BARE BONES, DIRECT AS IT COULD GET ABOUT ITS INTENTIONS TITLE, WHEN VETERAN PIANIST DAVE BASS RELEASED THE TRIO, VOL. 1 IN 2021, IT WAS ALL ABOUT SHOWCASING HIS, AS I PUT IT “WHIMSY AND WONDER” FILLED CAMARADERIE WITH KINDRED SPIRITS, KERRY KASHIWAGI (BASS) AND SCOTT GORDON (DRUMS), WHO HAD ONLY OFFICIALLY JOINED FORCES A YEAR OR SO EARLIER. YET IN A CAREER FILLED WITH EXTRAORDINARY MUSICAL COMEBACKS (FIRST FROM A BAD WRIST FRACTURE, THEN FROM A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL CAREER), IT COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN AN INCREDIBLE, STYLISTICALLY AND RHYTHMICALLY ECLECTIC ONE OFF FEATURING A SPECIFIC ENSEMBLE ASSEMBLED FOR A CERTAIN MOMENT – AS HIS 2015 ALL-STAR SET NYC SESSIONS AND NO BOUNDARIES (2019) HAD BEEN BEFORE.
FROM THE WILDLY ADVENTUROUS, DEEPLY SOULFUL AND LYRICAL YET OFTEN HYPNOTIC AND CRAZILY, FRENETICALLY AND EXOTICALLY PERCUSSIVE SOUND OF THINGS ON THE GROUP’S FOLLOW-UP THE TRIO, VOL. 2, WE CAN REST ASSURED THAT BASS PLANS ON VIBING DYNAMICALLY WITH THESE CATS (AND HOPEFULLY GUITARIST BARRY FINNERTY, WHO GUESTS ON TWO TRACKS) FOR A LONG TIME. BESIDES THE EFFORTLESS EASE OF CONVERSATIONAL FLOW THROUGHOUT – BOTH ON BOISTEROUS BREAKNECK ROMPS LIKE “TEMPUS FUGIT” AND SWEET GENTLY SWINGING AND LIGHTLY FROLICSOME GEMS A LA “MAY” – BASS AND COMPANY CLUE US IN ON THEIR LONG RANGE INTENTION AND VISION FOR THE FUTURE IN ANOTHER UNIQUE WAY.
THEY RE-IMAGINE “THE SIXTIES” (AS JUBILANTLY CHAOTIC AND SHAPESHIFTING AS THE DECADE ITSELF) AND “BALTIC BOLERO” (AS EXOTIC, DRAMATIC, SPIRITED AND SEXY AS THE TITLE MIGHT SUGGEST), WHICH BASS ORIGINALLY RECORDED ON NYC SESSIONS WITH, AMONG OTHERS, THE LATE LEGENDARY SAXOPHONIST PHIL WOODS, TROMBONIST CONRAD HERWIG AND BASSIST HARVIE S. ESPECIALLY WITH “BALTIC BOLERO,” WHICH INCLUDES FINNERTY’S CRACKLING SOLO, THESE FEEL MORE LIKE DEFINITIVE VERSIONS THAN FLUID ARRANGEMENTS THAT MIGHT CHANGE AGAIN ON ANOTHER FUTURE RECORDING. AN ARTIST WHO REWORKS WITH A NEW LINEUP SONGS HE FIRST PLAYED WITH ICONS IS ONE THAT’S COMMITTED TO THAT FRESH NEW SOUND.
THOSE ARE JUST TWO OF THE SPARKLING AND INFECTIOUS DELIGHTS ON THE TRIO, VOL. 2, WHICH TAKES US ON A FREEWHEELING AND LARGELY UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY FULL OF COLORFUL MOTIONAL MOODSWINGS VIA A MIX OF BASS ORIGINALS (MOST IMPACTFULLY, THE TRIPPY, SPIRIT-MINDED AND IMPRESSIONISTIC BALLAD “YUGEN”) AND PIECES BY A WIDE RANGE OF COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND PERSONAL INFLUENCES THAT PUSH THIS ALWAYS GAME TRIO INTO A MULTITUDE OF STYLISTIC DIRECTIONS.
THIS COLLECTION OFFERS A LANDSCAPE WHERE THE PLUCKY STROLLING BUSTLE OF THELONIOUS MONK’S “FOUR IN ONE” AND DENNY ZEITLIN’S SNAPPY, BREAKNECK PACED “CAROLE’S GARDEN” FIND EFFORTLESS COMPATIBILITY WITH THE REFLECTIVE SOFT-SPOKENNESS OF DIMITR TIOMKIN’S, THE BITTERSWEET ULTIMATELY CHEERFUL “I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY” AND THE ANGULAR HYPNOSIS AND CRACKLE AND FIRE OF THE AFRO-CUBAN BARNBURNER (ALSO FEATURING FINNERTY’S ELECTRIC SNAZZ) BY THE TUMBAO ALL-STARS WITH THE FUNKIEST TITLE IMAGINABLE, “GANDINGA, MONDONGO Y SANUNGO.” WHOEVER THOSE THREE GUYS ARE, THEY’VE MET THEIR MATCH IN THE BASS’ GROUP, NOW ONE OF THE MOST EXPLOSIVE TRIOS IN JAZZ..”
–Jonathan Widran / JWVibe
Reviews from each album
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TRIO VOL 3.
“A CD that will certainly inspire lovers of jazz trios!”
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TRIO VOL. 1
“THE TRIO, VOL. 1 ANNOUNCES THAT DAVE BASS IS NOT CONTENT TO REST ON THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HIS PREVIOUS RECORDINGS. HE HAS TAKEN ON PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE FOR A JAZZ PIANIST – THE TRIO – AND RESPONDS BY PLAYING, COMPOSING, ARRANGING AND LEADING WITH STRENGTH AND SINGULARITY. IN KERRY KASHIWAGI AND SCOTT GORDON, HE HAS PARTNERS WHO ARE WITH HIM EVERY NOTE OF THE WAY, AND THE SPACES IN BETWEEN.”
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NO BOUNDRIES
IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO SEE A LAWYER TURN HIS BACK ON THE SCALES AND GET BACK TO THE REAL SCALES, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY WERE ONCE A JAZZBO PIANO MAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. SURROUNDING HIMSELF WITH GRAMMY WINNERS AND NOMINEES, THE SWINGING IMPROV MAN LETS FLY ON A PROGRAM OF MOSTLY ORIGINALS THAT HARKEN BACK TO THE REAL MUSIC DAYS. EASILY THE KIND OF STUFF THAT WOULD MAKE YOU PAY THE BABYSITTER EXTRA TO LET YOU STAY OUT LATER ON A SCHOOL NIGHT, THIS IS A FINE EXAMPLE OF HOW IT’S DONE. HOT STUFF WITH EVERYONE ON BOARD IN TOP FLIGHT.
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NYC SESSIONS
IN NYC SESSIONS, “A PICTURE OF A CONFIDENT AND VERSATILE PIANIST-COMPOSER EMERGES. BASS CAN SHOULDER THE WEIGHT OF A SONG, DELIVER A RHAPSODIC INTRODUCTION BEFORE FADING INTO THE FABRIC OF THE MUSIC, SUPPORT AND ASSIST SINGERS AS THEY CAST THEIR SPELLS, RUN WITH THE BATON WHEN THE SOLO SPOTS ARRIVE, AND BE A TEAM PLAYER WHEN THE MUSIC CALLS FOR IT.”
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GONE
ONE LISTEN TO THIS DYNAMIC DISC AND YOU’LL BE ASKING YOURSELF: “WHERE HAS DAVE BASS BEEN ALL THESE YEARS?”
