A Drum Less Trio - Allison, Cardenas and Nash Explores Boundaries with "Triological"

 

Allison, Cardenas & Nash- Triological-SunnysideSSC-1811

The trio of Allison, Cardenas and Nash, as they are known, released their latest album titled Triological on Sunnyside Records this past April. If you have had the privilege of hearing these guys work before, either as sidemen, members of respected big bands/orchestras or as leaders of their own ensembles, then you are already aware of the copious talent these three musicians have.

For those who are unaware, Ben Allison is a vibrant bass player/composer/educator. He is also one of founders and creative director of the formative alliance, the Jazz Composer’s Collective in NYC, that from 1992-2005 promoted the creation and performance of creative, forward-looking jazz. His work first came to my attention with his group Man Size Safe’s album Little Things Run the World from 2008. The superb guitarist Steve Cardenas was also a member of that group, and I got to see that group perform in Brooklyn back in that year. I subsequently saw Allison and group with the performance artist Joey Arias at Carnegie Hall. I have reviewed several of his fine releases.

Cardenas was a member of the drummer Paul Motion’s Electric Be Bop Band and was with bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra for ten years.  I was also able to see Cardenas perform as a member of pianist Jon Cowherd’s talented Mercy Project when they performed in Portland, OR in Feb of 2023. I have enjoyed his work on his  Blue Has a Range and enjoyed his work with bassist John Patitucci and the drummer Adam Nussbaum..

Ted Nash has been a multi-woodwind member of Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra from 1998 through 2024!  I have heard him play in that orchestra on several occasions. He is the son of Dick Nash and the nephew of Ted Nash; both were first call Hollywood studio musicians who worked predominantly with the composer/arranger Henry Mancini.  Ted’s Presidential Suite:Eight Variations on Freedom, a big band suite released in 2016, won a Grammy in 2017.

Ted Nash, Ben Allison and Steve Cardenas (photo credit unknown)

This gifted trio’s first recording was Quiet Revolution, from 2018, explored the music of guitarist Jim Hall and reedist Jimmy Guiffre. Guiffre’s inventive drum less trio concept became the impetus for this trio’s future explorations, expanding the concept that a reed, guitar and bass could generate their own internal rhythmic drive through thoughtful interplay. 

In 2019 they released Somewhere Else which featured the music of West Side Story and the work of composer Leonard Bernstein. The trio released Healing Power-The Music of Carla Bley in 2020, and in 2024 they released Tell the Birds, a celebration of the rhymically displaced and harmonically rich music of pianist Herbie Nichols. It was only inevitable that this dynamic threesome, a trio so adept at interpretating other people’s compositions, would eventually release an album that featured their own original compositions. Thus, the genesis of the latest release, Triological.

Ten compositions, four by Allison and three each by Cardenas and Nash, make up this all-original offering. The inspiration for composing can often be found in previously composed, influentially residual, impressions that emerge from seeds of other people’s work. The music has elements of chamber jazz on this offering. The three reach a quiet, sensitivity that reaches for musical boundaries and can only be reached by musically empathetic artists willing to explore tonal and rhythmic boundaries. This album does all that and more.

Allison’s opening composure, “See Forever,” is an easy, mellow, sauntering piece that the bassist speaks of as being the product of a stream of consciousness approach. He finds this song the perfect vehicle for his vintage 1967 Hofner electric bass. Nash’s tenor is sonorous and Cardenas’ guitar is light and airy as the three weave around separately and  at times in sync with each other. Allison admits that there is a late fifties “easy listening” feel to this one, and he credits being somewhat influenced by the seminal work of conductor/composer Henry Mancini. Emulation of a great composer is hardly a weakness, and we will see this approach being somewhat thematic throughout the album.

Guitarist Cardenas’ “Puddle Jumper” is a flowing, bubbling piece that originally developed from the opening melodic lines that the guitarist was playing with and recorded on a voice memo, only to be left for development at a later date. There is a quiescent to this beautiful, melodically repeating line that emanates to the listener. It’s like a tonic to whatever may be ailing or disturbing you; just under four minutes of tranquility.

Ted Nash’s “Burnt Toast & Avocado” opens with a sensitive acoustic bass entre before Nash’s tubular clarinet takes a sinewy solo that lulls you like a snake charmer. Cardenas follows with his own exploratory, uncluttered solo that rings with sensitivity, before Allison’s throbbing bass lines resonate with sustain and authority.

Allison’s lively “Fellas with Umbrellas” is a composition that has two sources of inspiration. Initially Allison wrote the melody  over the chord changes of bassist Steve Swallow’s composition “Ladies in Mercedes.” An opening staccato bass line frames Nash’s gorgeous descending lines on his tonally rich tenor. Allison’s acoustic bass solo dances with aplomb; a sustained resonance that is subtly comped by Cardenas’s feather strumming. When the guitarist takes his turn, Allison’s strong rhythmic pace allows Cardenas to fearlessly explore the harmonic possibilities of the melody. Surprisingly, Allison mentions that the composition also had another great composer, Michel LeGrand, in mind. LeGrand’s cinematic soundtrack from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg clearly was in Allison’s mind when he titled this one. It turns out, Allison, in talking to Swallow about this composition, admitted that he too was influenced by LeGrand. The world of music can clearly be a small, small world, but one that is constantly renewing itself with new artists and new ideas of interpretation.

The album continues with the film-noirish “Milton,” an Allison composition previously released on his Moments Inside from 2021. Nash’s tenor is a marvel of luscious tonal delight. Allison again utilizes his Hofner electric bass, as Cardenas offers a solo accentuated by his use of a tremolo effect. The contrast between the metronomic bass lines, the trembling guitar lines, and the legato tenor lines make this sonically a treat.

“By Heart” is a Cardenas almost Americana style ballad that opens with the guitarist’s slow, sensitive opening lines that are repeated in sync by the three musicians. Cardenas’ guitar solo is short and poignant before Nash’s tenor adds to the pensive mode. Allison’s bass just hums with sustain and includes some higher register lines before the music returns to the opening lines to the coda.

Nash’s “For Bill” is one of my favorite compositions of the album. Nash used Bill Evans’ “Time Remembered” as his inspiration. The music opens with bass and guitar before the tenor enters with the melody line. There is patient, unhurried approach that clearly honors Evans’ own approach to music. Nash’s tenor tantalizingly navigates the sinewy lines with unshowy confidence and with rich harmonic ideas that don’t wander too far from the melody.  Cardenas’ accompaniment is intuitive and splendid. When he solos, it’s always airy, unobtrusive; always meaningful. Allison’s bass rings with a rhythmic presence that few can match. He always offering surprisingly inventive lines that accentuate the instruments vibrant possibilities.

“Back Home” is a return to the roots of the guitarist’s influence back in Kansas City, Missouri and his early time with pianist Jay McShann. With a loping bass line and tandem playing by Cardenas on electric guitar and Nash on tenor saxophone, the music swells with back home comfort. Nash is so welcomingly melodic, and Cardenas’ guitar sometimes has a comping feeling that recalls the sound of a delicately hammered vibraphone. 

Nash’s “Ida’s Spoon” is supposedly reimagined from Victor Young’s classic “Stella by Starlight”.  The music has the flow and momentum of a cryptic Lenny Tristano song where the lead instruments guitar and tenor weave themselves into a tapestry of sounds with no apparent direction. Nash claims saxophonist Warne Marsh’s as an inspiration on this one. Cardenas’ guitar work is at its most abstract here, and Allison’s bass is as free-flowing as we have heard.

The finale is Allison’s “Peace Out There” and reprises the sound of Nash’s warm, woody-toned clarinet. Allison claims that this was originally a work that had Jimmy Guiffre in mind, but as it developed, he feels it was more inspired by Carla Bley and her abstract “Mornings Out There.” There is parts with quickly played staccato lines followed by a more pastoral section where Allison’s electric bass and Cardenas’s guitar lines are played in unison, as Nash’s clarinet probes the atmosphere of the music. Quite beautiful, ambient and peaceful.