COMPOSERS: Three For All
LABELS: Challenge
ALBUM TITLE: Three For All
WORKS: Three For All
PERFORMER: Dave Liebman (saxes), Steve Swallow (bass), Adam Nussbaum (drums)
CATALOGUE NO: CHR 70130
The trio remains a favoured format for post-bop improvisers who like to stretch their legs without walking too far into free space. Liebman, Swallow and Nussbaum are old colleagues but this is their first time as a threesome. It’s an amiable meeting of like minds, perhaps a bit too cosy to really engross, but with the kind of detail which accomplished players like to weave into the music to keep themselves interested. Liebman sometimes falls back on a noisy vocabulary when he’s on soprano, but with Swallow and Nussbaum building the most inventive platforms underneath him, there’s always something interesting to listen to. The bassist contributes three of his originals to the set-list, but if anything it’s Nussbaum’s pair of tunes which take the writing honours. Richard Cook
Three For All
The trio remains a favoured format for post-bop improvisers who like to stretch their legs without walking too far into free space. Liebman, Swallow and Nussbaum are old colleagues but this is their first time as a threesome. It’s an amiable meeting of like minds, perhaps a bit too cosy to really engross, but with the kind of detail which accomplished players like to weave into the music to keep themselves interested.
Our rating
3
Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:01 pm