![]() Stream or download Live at the Uptowner on Amazon here. Finally, “Waking Hour” captures the sunrise of consciousness from slumber, the pre-caffeine aura, the finally getting-to-it. A languid, forlorn mood seems to evoke a Native American brave, alone out on a scouting mission, but half lost in his thoughts. And “Comanche” reveals Schaub’s imaginative composing. Thelonious Monk’s “Shuffle Boil” is a quirky, staccato theme that fits this band’s aesthetics like a glove. By contrast, “The Illusionist’s Sister” is up-tempo with Johnson delivering swift but lucid ideas and a bravura closing restatement of the theme. “Sundogs” sounds like a slow waltz, another well-crafted melody with a deliberate walking bass vamp and more lyrical utterances from Johnson. The Dave Bayles Trio (L-R) - Clay Schaub, bass, Dave Bayles, drums Russ Johnson, trumpet - perform at the Uptowner Bar. Johnson is a joy to follow through the trickier changes over Bayles’s marvelously sensitive accompaniment. “Third Birthday (this many)” is an affable Ornette Coleman-ish melody. After a melodic bass solo, Bayles delivers a dancing Billy Higgins-like solo. Johnson’s trumpet sings and floats, frolicking like a bird in a warm, spiraling breeze. Schaub’s opener, “Fitzroy,” quickly engages with a lyrical, playful melody, an almost samba-like groove with Bayles riding the tricky tempo perfectly. There’s no loss in the comparative spareness of instrumentation. The recording underscores my feelings that Johnson is arguably the most resourceful and supple horn virtuoso in Wisconsin (He also leads a quartet on an excellent new recording, Reveal, on the same label). You hear a superb sense of musical dialogue among the three players, though naturally the star is trumpeter Russ Johnson, along with bassist Clay Schaub and drummer-bandleader Dave Bayles. This album is the fortuitous result of superb veteran musicians working together as a trio almost weekly for two years at the Uptowner Bar in Riverwest. The Dave Bayles Trio will have a CD release party at The Uptowner Bar, 1032 E.
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