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Brian Groder Trio: R Train On The D Line

By Mark Corroto
July 22, 2016
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Brian Groder Trio: R Train On The D Line

An album like R Train On The D Line is what separates jazz listeners from non-jazz listeners. The

Brian Groder

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Groder Trio plays the kind of composed yet improvised music that portends to go off the rails at any time, yet never does. And that may be the true definition of jazz.

Consider the audiences' double-take when

Louis Armstrong

trumpet and vocals
1901 - 1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Louis Armstrong put a trumpet to his lips to open "West End Blues." Satchmo broke all the musical commandments with his improvised phrasing, yet his internal logic rewrote the possibilities. Ninety years later, Brian Groder opens "Asterix" with the same spirit, plus his collaborators, bassist

Michael Bisio

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Bisio and drummer

Jay Rosen

drums
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Jay Rosen, don't just accompany, they also go off script.

Non-jazz listeners walk away, jazz fans run towards this kind of interplay.

Like Trio X, which Rosen has performed in for years with

Joe McPhee

woodwinds
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe McPhee and

Dominic Duval

bass
1945 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Dominic Duval, this trio is one of the finest ensembles working in modern improvisation. The opening piece, "Quanta" sprints through multiple time changes with the stoic trumpet of Groder taking on all comers with a sharp, crisp champion sound. Groder's compositions give way to the individual voices, Bisio's on "Retooled Logic," where he pulls well paced notes before a bowed solo that layers a dreamy fog of pause over the affair and Rosen's mini-concerto of drums and cymbals on "Drawing In To Pull Away."

The two ballads "Isolating The Way" and "Whispered Sigh" relax the undertaking to allow the listener to more easily observe the trio's interplay. These demonstrate the band's affinity and rapport. This is indeed, jazz played at the highest level.

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Track Listing

Quanta; Retooled Logic; Drawing In To Pull Away; Isolating The Why; Praxis; Asterix; Whispering Sigh; Keel.

Personnel

Brian Groder

trumpet

Brian Groder: trumpet and flugelhorn; Michael Bisio: bass; Jay Rosen: drums.

Album information

Title: R Train On The D Line | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Latham Records

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