Among other things, Visiting Texture illustrates the principle of addition by subtraction. It’s the first studio album by Trio 3 as an actual trio – with Oliver Lake on alto Saxophone, Reggie Workman on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums – in more than a decade, since the excellent Time Being in 2006 (Intakt CD 106). The intervening years have seen the group work powerfully with some serious guest pianists: notably Geri Allen, Irène Schweizer, Vijay Iyer and Jason Moran. But there’s a specific character to the group’s trilateral rapport, which finds full expression here.

The working history among these musicians stretches back several decades, rooted in an ideal of collectivity and intuition: their motto has long been “a group where music is the leader.” “Improvisation to a large degree is always having an element of surprise,” Cyrille reflects. “Even if we’re playing something that’s arranged, we want to spark it so that there’s always a certain magic happening as the music is being developed.” The entirety of Visiting Texture adheres to that conviction, bound by a spirit of real-time discovery. Nat Chinen, from the CD liner notes

Cover art: Oliver Lake
Graphic design: Jonas Schoder
Liner notes: Nate Chinen
Photos: John Rogers

Recorded July 21, 22, 2016, at Studio Peter Karl, Brooklyn, NY, by Peter
Karl. Mixed by Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman and Peter Karl. Mastered by Peter Karl. Produced by Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt and Rosmarie A. Meier