If you have not done so, you may wish to read the Introduction and Question 1 of the Conceptualizing the Jazz Piano Trio series.
QUESTION #2: What trios have influenced you in the way that you approach the piano trio?
How was the question received by the interviewee?
Eight out of nine musicians gave responses to the second question that I would categorize as being direct and responsive. Among those eight, two musicians, Rufus Reid and Chuck Israels, asked an initial question for clarity before giving a direct and responsive answer. A third musician, Jeff Hamilton, expressed dislike for the term “piano trio” unless, “…the piano player is the leader.” He then continued to give a direct and responsive answer. Joanne Brackeen answered, “I don’t know quite what that means.” Before I could finish clarifying my question, Brackeen interrupted me and gave a responsive, but somewhat indirect, answer.
What kinds of answers where given?
The chart on the following page illustrates the frameworks used to answer question #2 and the musicians who used them. There were mostly two types of answers given for the second question. The first framework was one of listening experiences. These recordings were influential to the musician’s development or musical concept. The second framework has to do with playing experiences. In these answers, musicians elaborated on the trios or ensembles with which they have played or currently do play. Brackeen’s response was somewhat indirect, but was still mostly based on experiences with trios or rhythm sections. Many musicians used mixed frameworks of both their listening experiences and playing experiences.
Additional Observations
There were fifty-nine names mentioned, but only the six most mentioned names are represented in the chart below.
Many of the artists omitted from the chart were only mentioned once during interviews. Many of these single references are actually band members of one of the more popular leaders. The chart on the following page shows how the four most mentioned artists, Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, and Keith Jarrett, are coupled with fourteen other referenced artists through their playing associations.
It is noteworthy that the four most commonly mentioned artists are both bandleaders and pianists. This confirms the piano’s significant role in the trio. The charts would imply a three-way tie between trios led by Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Ahmad Jamal. But the frequency of comments and duration of focus upon each group are not equally proportional. By far, Bill Evans and Ahmad Jamal are discussed in greater detail than any of the other trios. Each musician’s experience is different, but there is general agreement about some of the artists mentioned, and a coalescence of aesthetic values or historical significance attributed to these artists. Bill Evans is commonly cited both by the interviewees and in music research. What is agreed upon by most interviewees, as well as researchers, is a change in the conventional role of the bass. This happened first with Scott LaFaro and then with subsequent members of the Bill Evans trio. Fred Hersch stated:
With the Bill Evans Trio, the original trio, that was sort of the first time really that a trio was engaging [in] a more open dialog, and the bass was sort of freed from the functional role and became sort of another voice, another independent voice.
The disagreement among musicians appears to be in two facets of the Evans trio. First, there is the question of whether this “open dialog” is functioning as an improvised group solo or whether it is simply an altered manner of accompanying the main soloist. Eric Reed said:
…they are all playing and soloing, all at the same time. But it is not just Bill soloing and those guys backing him up. Often times Scotty wouldn’t even be walking, he’d be playing these sort of counter lines, or these second improvisational lines, so it really gives the idea of a bass line much more meaning…
Jeff Hamilton agreed:
…I think the Bill Evans trio was community improvisation throughout. Nobody was designated to play time and keep time through most of that material, and they all three have a license to contribute at all times and it was a complete group improvisation.
The comments by Reed and Hamilton both substantiate what Gridley observed. The dissenting view came from a Bill Evans trio member—bassist Chuck Israels. It should be noted that most of the comments made about the Evans trio were about the original group with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, although Jeff Hamilton commented on three different versions of the trio. Israels stated:
[Evans] leaves spaces for me, for the bass player and drummer to interject commentary in between his phrases….let me clarify something; it was not three soloists playing at the same time. It was not that, and people mishear it if they believe that’s what’s going on…
I followed up by saying that I thought that what people are hearing is the bassist playing rhythms other than quarter notes behind a piano solo. Israels reacted:
That’s right, that’s right. Exactly. That doesn’t mean I’m playing a solo. I’m just changing the character of the accompaniment. But it’s still an accompaniment, and more so in my style than in Scotty’s.
In this last phrase, there may be some answer for the disagreement among musicians. Perhaps the playing of Scott LaFaro and Chuck Israels are diverse enough to explain the difference in musical interpretation.
The second point of disagreement is related to the first. What is the function of the drums in the Evans trio? I asked follow-up questions of both drummers, Jeff Hamilton and Peter Erskine, about the role of Paul Motian in the Evans trio. Erskine responded, “…I mean, listen to Paul Motian on those [recordings] like the “Vanguard.” Paul’s just playing time. He’s not bashing it out. There’s definitely real limits in this.”
I asked Hamilton directly if Motian was playing “more of a time keeping role.” He responded:
No, I feel like he was one of the trend setters for improvising with a trio. I didn’t feel like he kept time for the trio at all, I felt like he was following the path of Bill Evans’s school of trio, which is improvising, everybody is improvising and floating if you want to, or playing time if you want. So I feel like when he did keep time that he felt like that was the right thing to do.
So perhaps there is a clue in Hamilton’s last statement. Saying, “…when he did keep time,” demonstrates that this mode of playing is not a digital, all or nothing, configuration. There are times when conventional norms are upheld and times when they are broken. Still, I find it fascinating that musicians of such caliber can hear music so differently. Chuck Israels later in the interview commented, “And in a way, Bill Evans trio was duo with drum accompaniment.” This indirectly argues that the drums performed a subservient and time-keeping role.
The influence of Ahmad Jamal’s trio is one of nearly universal agreement amongst interviewees. Musicians talked about Jamal’s use of space so frequently that it became cliché. However, this refrain from playing by Jamal has had a pervasive impact on trio playing. It was a great joy to speak with Richard Davis, who played with Ahmad Jamal’s trio in the 1950s when it was composed of piano, bass, and guitar. Most of the interviewees commented on the later formation of the trio, which was composed of piano, bass, and drums. Davis commented:
Well Ahmad Jamal had a certain way of playing. It was very exciting and had lots of nuances in there, lots of louds and softs and space and things of that type. I learned later that – I don’t know if he was conscious of this – but he was laid out sometimes and about a half a chorus goes by, and keep playing. And I found out later that he was having ambiguity because he didn’t know whether he wanted to continue to play the piano or not so he would just lay out while we would take over. And then come back in. And Miles Davis saw that space as an advantage during that, as an advantage to his band....
Eric Reed remembered his early listening experiences with Ahmad Jamal:
And, I don’t really know what Ahmad Jamal was thinking when he would do that, but it was just so brilliant. He’d go [sings melody of “But Not For Me”]…. And then he’d stop, and then all you’d hear is the bass and the drums, and I’m like, man, I’m thinking, did something happen to my CD, did the piano drop out in the left channel, what the hell is going on? It’s like, no, he just chose not to play there.
The third trio cited as very influential is the Oscar Peterson Trio. It is interesting that many of the comments about the Peterson trio are ones in passing. It is as if it goes without saying that Peterson is an influential figure. Rufus Reid said, “Well, I was probably allud[ing] to the traditional one, meaning Oscar Peterson…” Eric Reed included Peterson by saying, “I love the Bill Evans Trio. I love Erroll Garner, of course, just for the main, just for the intensity of his swing, Oscar Peterson. You know, the classics.” Erskine explained that Peterson was a formative influence. If other artists had a similar experience, perhaps the reason everyone but Davis and Brackeen mention Peterson, but do not discuss him at length is because he is not a persistent influence on current or later development. Hersch, Ballard, and Brackeen commented on the rhythm section of Miles Davis’s band functioning as a trio. Fred Hersch stated:
...If you want to call the trio in the Miles Davis quintet with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, as a trio, even though they didn’t record as a trio per se, but just as a trio in a rhythm section, that’s certainly an influence on many pianists.
Even as popular jazz piano trios have influenced musicians, the impact of dynamic rhythm sections must not be overlooked.
Walking bass is an accompaniment bass technique that outlines the harmonic progression, as well as emphasizes the swinging quarter-note time-feel.
Playing time is a term used most often by drummers, but may also be used by bassists, to describe accompaniment patterns that may have reduced complexity, greater predictability, and traditionally a strong quarter-note emphasis.
Use of space refers to taceting as a compositional or improvisational technique. It is used almost exclusively in reference to Ahmad Jamal.
