Yaniv Taubenhouse Announces MOMENTS IN TRIO VOL. 4 - CIRCLES Release

Pianist and composer Yaniv Taubenhouse has announced the release of Moments in Trio Volume Four – Circles, the fourth album in his ongoing series documenting his long-running trio with Rick Rosato on bass and Jerad Lippi on drums. The album is set for release on November 13, 2026 on Fresh Sound/New Talent.

The album follows the trio's previous releases 'Vol. 1 Moments in Trio,' 'Vol. 2 Perpetuation,' and 'Vol. 3 Roads,' and marks nearly thirteen years of the trio creating music together. As Mike Gates stated on UKVibe, 'There needs to be an intuitive togetherness, one which conveys a creative path of interest. This trio has this in abundance.'

Moments in Trio Volume 4 – Circles explores the concept of circles across ten tracks, comprised of seven new Taubenhouse compositions and three standards arranged by Taubenhouse. 'I thought deeply about the circular aspects of life and music while composing, performing, and recording the music on this album. To me, the first and most basic circle in music is the silence before the music begins and after the last note is played. That silence is a complete circle which encapsulates myriad smaller circles within a composition. In life many of our daily activities start and end at the same place. People often wake up and go to sleep in the same bed, leave the house and come back to it later. Always returning to the same starting point. I found it interesting to compose music which explores the questions, why do so many things in life have a circular aspect to them? Is it human nature to seek those types of shapes, or is there something greater than us that dictates that kind of pattern? Perhaps it's a combination of both,' explained Taubenhouse.

The opening track, Above the Sky, is based on a simple melodic motif that reoccurs three times, but each time it appears in a different key and with a slightly different harmony underneath it. 'I wrote this composition while listening to the rustle of leaves. Nature sometimes speaks in a very subtle way and connects us to different energetic circles and dimensions. It made me wonder, what is the force that's driving it all, and what is Above the Sky,' said Taubenhouse.

The title song, Circles, is written in a 13/16 time signature which makes it a circle with a small lilt to it. However, the contour of the melody in this composition has a circular shape to it, with the three 10-bar phrases starting on the same chord (C sharp minor flat six) before branching out to slightly different harmonic territories each time.

Reminiscing was written in the summer of 2025 as Taubenhouse was reflecting on memories from recent years, some happy and some a bit more nostalgic, hence the constant shift between major and minor. The composition returns repeatedly to its original motif in F major, but each time it leads to another musical idea in a minor key. It ends with a melody that is a slight variation on the original motif played softly until it fades away, like the feeling of thinking about something right before falling asleep. 'The repetition of the original motif combined with the nature of memories where we go back in our mind to past experiences and feelings signifies the concept of circles,' stated Taubenhouse.

Bye-Ya, written by Thelonious Monk, has been altered by added rhythmic hits that are structured so that the first and last chord of the song are the same and fall in the same place rhythmically (the second beat of the bar). Taubenhouse explains further, 'this gives the feeling that we have completed another full circle when the last chord of the song is played.'

The title Mind Traps refers to being caught up in a mental loop, another type of circle. That might mean being bothered by something or trying to find a solution or solve a problem. Taubenhouse dissects the composition further, 'the piece starts with a repeated bass line that is soon joined by a second line. This is the main motif, and we return to it multiple times. That motif represents the initial mind trap. Every time the song starts to develop outside of that mind trap, it's a small liberation, but it keeps going back to that original motif. Eventually, it leads to a new repeated bass line that is also paired with a second line. These lines are repeated in a similar way to the original motif, which feels like being caught in a new mind trap. The piece goes back to the original motif which eventually breaks into a solo section via a metric modulation where the eighth notes become the new quarter notes. That solo section is the ultimate liberation from the mind traps. After that, we go back to the original theme but eventually land in a repeated vamp comprised of four bass notes and three chords. That vamp is yet another mind trap that almost sounds like a broken record. However, the drum solo over that vamp represents liberation. This is the climax of the piece where mind traps and freedom happen simultaneously!'

Other highlights on Circles include Some Other Time, written by Leonard Bernstein, and given a Taubenhouse-facelift with an identical intro and outro which makes the beginning and ending feel like a complete circle. Betty Comden's lyrics have a circular aspect to them as well as each A section ends with the same sentiment, 'Oh well, we'll catch up some other time.'

Wind symbolizes the constant drawing of invisible circles through endless free-flowing shapes created by the movement of air. The intro and outro of the song are made from short melodic fragments (2-3 notes each) that are like the drawing of little circles. Those little melodies keep appearing throughout the song. It is written in a 5/8 time signature. 'While performing this song with the trio, we have been exploring the idea of switching between the smaller five (5/8) and the bigger fives (5/4 and 5/2) and dividing those rhythms into different rhythmic groupings. This makes me think of the unpredictability of wind and how it constantly changes its pace, shape, and rhythm,' said Taubenhouse.

Daydream has a recurring motif that resolves to slightly different harmonic and melodic territories each time it appears, hinting at how daydreaming is a kind of circle too, as we travel in our minds and keep coming back to reality - we're awake and yet in a dream world at the same time.

The Bud Powell composition, Oblivion, has a 32-bar form divided into two 16-bar sections. The two sections are almost identical melodically and harmonically. Taubenhouse added an 8-bar open coda to the arrangement which is a harmonic progression that the trio improvises over.

Longing Forward is the concluding circle on the album. This song is comprised of three identical sections or circles of 29 bars, carrying the exact melody and chord changes, but each in a different key. Each section modulates two steps down from the previous one, creating a symmetrical circular harmonic movement across the song which outlines an augmented chord, the same type of harmonic movement outlined in Coltrane changes. The title Longing Forward offers the idea of missing something while moving forward at the same time.

'The jazz world is like a big circle that holds in it many smaller circles. And we are here on planet Earth, which keeps spinning around and creating new circular shapes with each moment. The 24 hour-cycle of a day is a circle, the sun that keeps shining every morning creates a circle and the moon that appears each night is another circle. So, the more I think about it, the more I realize that circles are everywhere, in music and in life in general. The purpose of this title is to bring attention closer to those circles, observe them, and discover them while listening to the music on this album and as we go about life' – Yaniv Taubenhouse.

Upcoming Tour Dates

OCT. 15 2026 Yaniv Taubenhouse Trio @ Five Spot Jazz, NYC

OCT. 29 2026 Yaniv Taubenhouse Trio Featuring Greg Wall @ Jazz At The Post, Westport, CT

NOV. 11 2026 - CD RELEASE CELEBRATION Yaniv Taubenhouse Trio @ Mezzrow, NYC

NOV. 28 2026 With Ruth Stokes @ Plowshares Coffee Roasters, NYC

More information is available at YanivTaubenhouse.com.

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