The Trio: Billy Bean · Hal Gaylor · Walter Norris (includes Bonus Tracks)

24 BIT
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
STEREO
T he Trio is one of those comparatively little-known albums still revered by aficionados as a gem of its kind. Originally conceived by Hal Gaylor (born 1929), it combined his considerable powers as a bassist with the remarkable talents of guitarist Billy Bean (1933-2012) and pianist Walter Norris (1931- 2011) in a trio that was musical democracy at its most fluent and creative. United by this interactive credo, they released only one album the eponymous The Trio in the group s sadly brief life, although the bonus tracks here (9-14) appeared later. Bean, with his inventiveness, lyricism, his harp-like tone, accuracy and speed, was in magisterial form, aided and abetted by Norris, a truly gifted improviser and accompanist who spent most of his subsequent career in Germany, and Gaylor, the fulcrum round which the group s engaging interplay swirled and developed. The guitar-piano-bass setting has a long and honoured jazz lineage, beginning with the Nat Cole Trio and continuing with Art Tatum s, the Oscar Peterson-Barney Kessel/Herb Ellis-Ray Brown lineups and the memorable Jim Hall-Carl Perkins-Red Mitchell and Hall-Mitchell-Red Kelly groups. This one is right up there with the best of them.