Dave Bayles Trio: Live at the Uptowner

Here's a rather unusual lineup for a trio: trumpet, bass and drums. Russ Johnson is the trumpeter, Clay Schaub the bassist, Dave Bayles the drummer and leader. That is rather like assembling the Gerry Mulligan quartet without inviting Mulligan. Bayles' trio was recorded live in February 2023 at the Uptowner nightclub in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it has a regular weekly gig.

The concert, which lasts well over an hour, consists of five original compositions by Schaub, three by Johnson and one ("Shuffle Boil") by Thelonious Monk. For the most part, the songs are pretty good (the word "serviceable" springs to mind) but better suited to a concert setting than a framework in which repeated listening is possible. It would have been helpful if a standard or two were thrown into the mix.

As that did not happen, what we have is a reasonably talented trio playing reasonably acceptable music that is congenial but on the whole less than exceptional. Perhaps seeing as well as hearing made a difference, as the audience salutes each number with enthusiastic applause. What this says perhaps more than anything is that the trio plays well, at least well enough to engage and please an audience, which certainly seems to be the case.

As for the tunes, they serve more as springboards for improvisation than as special or persuasive works. Johnson's ad libs are reliable if less than unique, Schaub keeps adequate time and solos capably when called upon, while Bayles acquits himself well in spite of a tendency to overplay that is more suitable to a concert arena than, say, a recording studio.

In sum, a respectable concert session that one senses may have been better had the trio chosen more enticing material. A follow-up recording of standards could perhaps help prove the point.

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