Dave Douglas :: projects :: Tiny Bell Trio

Tiny Bell Trio

The Tiny Bell Trio was formed in 1991 soon after the arrival of Shepik and Black in New York. In the beginning, the repertoire was mostly traditional East European folk music that Douglas had been exploring with accordionist Nabila Schwab. The band took a regular Friday night gig at the Bell Cafe in Soho and soon began adding original tunes to the book, experimenting with the blend of sounds coming out of the folk music tradition and the three musicians backgrounds as improvisers. The compact size of the group and the small space in which it was asked to perform became the basis for the group\'s name.

Their first CD, "The Tiny Bell Trio" (Songlines), was released in 1994, a kind of statement-of-principles recording which still defines the core of their playing vocabulary. 1994 was also the year of the band\'s first European tour. In 1995 came their second CD, "Constellations" (Hat Art), and more touring in North America and Europe. As a result of all the touring the band\'s sound became looser and began to incorporate broader influences such as Herbie Nichols, George Brassens, Robert Schumann and Han Bennink. All this was added to the basic esthetic of Douglas\' originals inspired by the sound of Eastern Europe - Serbian Brass Bands, Bulgarian instrumental music, Hungarian national ensembles and Macedonian Coceks.

1997\'s release "Live in Europe", on ArabesqueRecords, draws all these strands together and also includes glimpses of the mad-cap humor and stark lyricism of their live performances.

Their most recent recording on Winter & Winter is called "Songs of Wandering Souls". It was released 1999.

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