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Curtis Clark, Marilyn Lerner and Chad Taylor: Chasing the Piano
Jess Stacy
b.1904Israel Crosby
bass, acousticb.1919
Gene Krupa
drums1909 - 1973
Certainly much has happened in jazz and improvised music since that date, but the piano trio has endured as a popular and very fruitful format. 
Bill Evans
piano
1929 - 1980
Bud Powell
piano
1924 - 1966
Thelonious Monk
piano
1917 - 1982
Eddie Costa
piano
1930 - 1962
Three new piano trios helmed by pianists 
Curtis Clark
piano
b.1950
Curtis Clark
Taagi
No Business
2010
A student and compatriot of Los Angeles-based pianist, composer and organizer 
Horace Tapscott
piano
1934 - 1999
David Murray
saxophone, tenor
b.1955
John Tchicai
saxophone
1936 - 2012
Han Bennink
drums
b.1942
Louis Moholo-Moholo
drums
1940 - 2025
It is assumed that, in the trio model, each side will contribute equally to the music, an utter balance of fluidity. The triangle represented by this group is uneven, which is interesting—most of the pieces begin as piano solos that are wholly contained units, then sketched around and turned on their ends by a telepathic, but sometimes equally insular duo. "New York City Wildlife" has a skumpy, creeping melody reminiscent of 
Horace Silver
piano
1928 - 2014
Marilyn Lerner
Arms Spread Wide
No Business
2009
Montreal-based pianist Marilyn Lerner isn't particularly well-known in free music though her pedigree calls upon such diverse settings and influences as klezmer and Cuban music. Arms Spread Wide places Lerner in a more traditional format, albeit free, with bassist 
Ken Filiano
bass
b.1952
Cecil Taylor
piano
1929 - 2018
Irene Schweizer
piano
b.1941
Dave Burrell
piano
b.1940
Lerner switches between shoving the music with bodily engagement and the nearly romantic, Erik Satie-like eddies that close out "Wild Analysis." Rubbed and bowed piano strings are the landscape for "Nightwings," disquieting glissandi and spindly pluck ricocheting off meaty bass thwack and muted gong rattle. "Hommage a Coco Schumann" is an elegy for a German Jewish guitarist who survived the Holocaust; Filiano and Grassi set up a loose, stone-skipping rhythm as Lerner places bouncy post-bop in continuous, eliding and oft-pointillistic motion. In the depths of piano and bass, a slight tug begins and develops into choppy three-way interplay and punchy melodicism. Arms Spread Wide presents a uniquely powerful trio, and a pianistic voice that hopefully will be heard from more frequently.
Chad Taylor
Circle Down
482 Music
2009
Drummer Chad Taylor's Circle Down is certainly not the first disc to present him in the company of a piano trio, though he's probably best known for his work in the Chicago Underground collective with trumpeter-composer 
Rob Mazurek
trumpet
b.1965
On "Opal," Sanchez builds busy patterns from melodies both languid and lush, encircling rhythms growing weightier as her expressionist stresses leap out. "Level" rides a similar, if more haggard, tension curve, wandering midrange repetitions fleshed out by hacking pizzicato and Taylor's dry, tumbling accents. Sanchez climbs advancing arcs into a series of clanging and slightly minimal gestures before the trio bashes out a hard, angular groove. "Pablo" isn't quite the Annette Peacock tune, but it is graced with a relentless loose Latinate clang at the outset and, as throughout Circle Down, the terse and athletic interplay between Sanchez and Taylor is nearly overpowering. While not a disc to grab the listener by the throat, this threesome has created an incredibly spry collective language that deserves serious ear-time.
Tracks and Personnel
Taagi
Tracks: Suite: Joy/Blessings; Suite: Water Colors/New York City Wildlife; Taagi; Joy; Blessings; Beautiful Love.
Personnel: Curtis Clark: piano; Aaron Gonzalez: bass; Stefan Gonzalez: drums.
Arms Spread Wide
Tracks: Wild Analysis; Nightwings; The Eternal Present; The Dance within the Game; Skies Spin Round; Hommage a Coco Schumann; Samphire; World of Shades; Arms Spread Wide; Skitterbug.
Personnel: Marilyn Lerner: piano; Ken Filiano: bass; Lou Grassi: drums.
Circle Down
Tracks: Box Step; Specifica; Rock; Traipse; No Brainer; Opal; Level; Miriam; Pablo; Pascal.
Personnel: Chad Taylor: drums; Angelica Sanchez: piano; Chris Lightcap: bass.
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