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All good things come in threes.

The triangle is the most stable geometric construction. A three legged stool may be crooked, but it does not wobble. A square is only stable, if it is split into two or more triangles and even a circle consists basically of infinitely equilateral triangles that run at an acute angle towards the joint center. But the natural law, which applies one hundred percent to geometry and structural analysis, is abrogated, in almost all cases, in Jazz. Usually trios are solo projects with a fixed star and two satellites. If it turns out to be different, it is godsend.

The Diego Pinera Trio is such a blessing. Saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Ben Street and drummer Diego Pinera create a stable triangle, where the page length is not defined by the vertex but by the common enclosed area. This is all the more surprising as the fractions of the three protagonists and the intensity of the trio are variable, not only from tune to tune, but also within the tunes. Without that, the established coordinates of solo and accompaniment within the trio would manifest themselves - all three musicians play with the same passion, the creative fractions are and remain evenly distributed - constantly shifting the center of gravity and the communicative moment. 

The three emanates a magic, which is used by religions, fairy tales, myths and literary figures. The Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the Three Wise Men from the East are just three examples of Christian mythology. The three theological virtues are faith, love, and hope. Three times black cat, three wishes, the three feathers, the three Musketeers, the three from the gas station, it is always three times in the one, a holistic approach resulting in a three-way split.

This one or singularity as three is what is so impressive about the trio of Diego Pinera. It is not about what different contexts Mark Turner invents, nor the long list of musicians with whom Ben Street has played with. In this particular Trinity it is only about what happens in this, and in no other moment. That is amazing, exciting, and unpredictable. The three musicians are free to use all of their imagination because they can completely trust in the stable constellation. Because each of them combines holistically what is currently played and what is expected by the two other collaborators. There are three individual musicians who bring in their whole backgrounds, but there is also the association of three intentions to a Meta impulse that is completely detached from its origins.

It is an expression of the creative force of Pinera, Street and Turner that by all spiritual poetry of their trio context they stay present and earthbound. All three are constantly transmitting and receiving between each other, but they transmit together. All this is based on the grounds of jazz and using elements of jazz. But this music embodies much more than what the categorical shortening of a genre can do. It is the uniqueness of a special and distinctively playful moment which you can only hear from this and no other context.

To be a part of this moment is everything. To be a part of the fundament, the architecture of the execution, and the spirit of the continuation - a further division by three.

  • Songlist

    Open window

    Cuidado

    New Hope

    Evidence

    TodayBart

    My picture

    The new one

    The song is you

  • Press (DE)

    »Das Trio glänzt mit einer harmonischen Übereinstimmung, die einerseits darauf beruht, dass Ben Street und Mark Turner seit mehr als zwei Dekaden bei diversen Anlässen zusammenspielen, zum anderen geht sie auf das Konto des Leaders: Diego Pineras rhythmische Intensität und die Qualität seiner Originals vollendet die voller Überraschung steckende Session.« (Gerd Filtgen, Fono Forum, Juni 2016)

    »Pinera komponiert zumeist selbst und liefert mit diesem Album eine phantastische, nicht nur spieltechnisch höchst anspruchsvolle, sondern auch überaus geschmackvolle und in sich stimmige Arbeit (…).« (Drums & Percussion, Mai 2016)

  • Comment by Diego Pinera

    I wrote the music especially with the individual sound from Mark Turner and Ben Street in mind and it tooked me one year to compose this album.  It was the first time for me to compose for a saxophone  trio setting. I start listening and analyzing this kind of setting beginning  with Sonny Rollings Trio and ending by The Fly. I was also lucky to have my friends, long time colleagues and exceptional musicians Peter Ehwald and Tino Derado who gaves me some really nice ideas as well.
    But I also get inspired from people with whom I was playing together like Sebastian Schunke, Phil Donkin, Nils Wogram.

    The compositions on My Picture represent finally what I really like in music: some odd meters, polyrhythmic, odd meter claves, melodic development and harmonies. I love to switch between formal structure and free improvisation. In retrospective I believe I found a nice balance between all those elements at the end.
    At the morning of the 7th of January I realized that the day was arriving I have been working for a whole year. Everybody arrived at the studio, Nancy from the studio gaves us a warm welcome and we all started to prepare us for the recording. Already at the soundcheck the people from the studio realized that it could be a very good recording day. I felt so appreciated to could do that under such honorable circumstances.

    The recording button was pressed and we played the first song and suddenly I felt that everybody was just start giving so much input, Ideas, getting involved in the process. The session was awesome!

    Nearly the whole session are One take recordings! We finished the session earlier than planned and everybody felt pleased.

    I said: “Wanna play some more? Why not a standard?”  Ben and Mark,"Sure!”  On the way to the instrument Mark and Ben sat on the piano to check some harmonic idea, changes and their experience with that standard. I also took just a phenomenal first take!

My Picture feat. Mark Turner & Ben Street (CD)

€ 10,00Price
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