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Trio of Bloom — Trio of Bloom
(Bandcamp Pyroclastic PR 42, 2025, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-01-15

Trio of Bloom Cover art

While we’re on the subject of trios with names starting “Tr-” (see Tre Spiritus and Trinary System, both reviewed recently), here we have Trio of Bloom, with Nels Cline (guitar), Craig Taborn (keyboards), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). This is by far the most improvisational of the bands, as you might expect from having Cline on board, and he’s in full out-there mode for most of this album. This configuration came at the instigation of producer David Breskin, who back in 1987 assembled Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell, and Melvin Gibbs, three musicians who had never worked together, for a one-off project called Power Tools. Similarly, these three hadn’t previously worked together, and Breskin thought they’d make an interesting combination. He was right, of course — with musicians like this, it was bound to be interesting at the very least. Each of the players was asked to contribute some of their own compositions (either new or repurposed) as well as bringing one cover tune to the table. The choices of cover tunes are diverse, though all from jazz, including Ronald Shannon Jackson, Terje Rypdal, and Wayne Shorter, and the new interpretations diverge widely from the originals. A wide range of influences are apparent in these eleven tracks (over an hour in total), from electric Miles Davis to afrobeat, King Crimson, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, all seen through a lens of inventive freedom. Trio of Bloom is at times sublimely beautiful, at other times bracingly noisy or playfully chaotic, but always fascinatingly creative.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Nels Cline, Craig Taborn, Trio of Bloom

More info
http://trioofbloom.bandcamp.com/album/trio-of-bloom

 

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