Flights of Fancy: Trio, Fascination, Volume 2

Trio one is Cameron Brown and Idris Muhammad. Trio two features Billy Drewes on soprano saxophone and alto flute and Joey Baron on drums. Trio three is with Toots Thielemans on harmonica and Kenny Werner on piano. And on trio four, I play with Dave Douglas on trumpet and Mark Dresser on bass.

These different combinations and different ways of playing the same tune with different groupings is how I play all the time. I’ve studied these instruments throughout my life and I tried to really put them together in a clear way in these trio settings.

These are not only solo flights but flights of fancy. It’s having fun and playing music with a free approach, so every time you play, it’s a new journey, a new flight. As an improviser, you play the same tunes a lot. The idea is to have a different approach, to be free, to be creative throughout your lifetime, within your music.

I wanted this to be a tapestry of sound. Living in my space in New York City, I explored improvising with so many people in so many different ways. It’s so great to record and lay it down, to document the way I’ve grown up improvising and continue to study different approaches to creating music.

The 11 different trio combinations that came out of these sessions were for me an expression of who I am as a musician.