DAVE BASS

TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3

Independent Label

Dave Bass, piano/composer; Tyler Miles, double bass; Steve Helfand, drums.

This album is the ninth recording for Dave Bass as a bandleader, composer and pianist.  It completes a trilogy that he began back in 2024 with “Trio Nuevo Vol. 1.”  On this Trio Nuevo Volume 3 album, Bass continues his interplay with familiar handpicked musicians.

“I want to play with musicians who are versatile in a variety of styles and can truly inhabit those styles, not just dabble in them.  That’s why this is my third recording with Tyler and Steve,” Dave writes in his press package.

Bass has composed six out of the eleven songs on this album. The first one to jog out of the gate is titled “Neither Have I Wings” and is played at a moderate tempo.  His arrangements span music from Bach to Brazil and speckle this recording with cover tunes from Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk and standards like “Try a Little Tenderness.”  You will enjoy a little bit of everything. The music pours out of Dave Bass’s fingertips with enthusiasm and creativity.

Bass teases us with his upper register notes on a tune he titles, “Toccata.”  A toccata is a musical composition written for keyboard instruments that comes from the Italian word “Toccare,” which means “to touch.”  Bass touches all the keys as he explores this music. His arrangement is deeply based in a European classical style and sounds like something Bach would have written.

Then comes a gospel-tinged arrangement of “The Water is Wide,” that’s a traditional folk song reinvented by the Dave Bass Trio. Tyler Miles takes a rich, understated bass solo, plucking at the upper register of his beautiful big bass to create a full range of tones.

One of my favorite arrangements on this album is the way Dave Bass refreshes the Chick Corea tune, “Fingerprints.”  I do miss the double-time bass line that Corea used to enhance his arrangement, but Steve Helfand’s drums are dynamic and push this arrangement ahead with gusto and grit.

Tyler Miles adds his own double bass solo introduction to Dave Bass’s composition “Gantry.” Bass makes this “Fingerprints” number a medley called “Fingerprints/Gantry.”

Dave whisks me back to a Detroit movie theater watching the Disney movie, “Pinocchio” with my mom, and listening to “When You Wish Upon a Star” with wide child-innocent eyes. That song won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Original Song.  It was Disney’s first Oscar-winning composition. It also won for Best original Score. Dave Bass and his trio shine, polishing this song to a high gloss.

The Pinocchio film was so popular it was re-released six times; in 1954, 1962, 1971, 1978, 1984 and 1992.

“Work” is one of Thelonious Monk’s lesser recognized compositions. The trio brings it alive with a bass solo that is both original and impressive. Steve Helfand uses brushes to beat the pulse into place, supporting the bass player’s creativity. He then picks up his sticks to accompany Dave Bass during his rigorous solo embellishment of the Monk composition. The trio embraces Monk’s quirky bebop energy. Helfand embellishes the fade with a brief but mighty percussive showcase.

Another favorite of mine is the Dave Bass composition “Lost Mambo.” Grab your dancing shoes!

His closing original song is “You Lose.”  It was developed as a contrafact of the standard tune, “If I should Lose You.”  You probably wouldn’t recognize the original song in this arrangement. The trio has accelerated the tempo and swings the tune defiantly around my listening room. It’s a brand new song. This quickly becomes another favorite of mine.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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