Dave Bass to Release TRIO NUEVO, VOL. 3 on Tiger Turn
The eleven-track album features six originals and influences ranging from Bach to Chick Corea.
Pianist and composer Dave Bass will release TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3 on October 2, 2026 on Tiger Turn. The album finds Bass performing alongside bassist Tyler Miles and drummer Steve Helfand, creating music the release describes as expansive, colorful, and deeply conversational.
Playing piano in a jazz trio demands equal measures of virtuosity, restraint, and trust underpinned by a fresh and vivid repertoire. A pianist must navigate the delicate balance of supporting the rhythm section while maintaining the form, shifting effortlessly between soloist and accompanist, and knowing when silence speaks louder than sound. On TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3, Bass demonstrates this rare balance, weaving a rich tapestry of melody and harmony with Miles and Helfand.
TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3 is Bass's ninth recording as a leader and completes a trilogy that began with Trio Nuevo Vol. 1 (2024) and continued with Trio Nuevo Vol. 2 (2025). Earlier in his recording career, beginning in 2010, Bass led projects featuring acclaimed horn players and vocalists, including Phil Woods, Conrad Herwig, Ernie Watts, Ted Nash, Mary Stallings and Karrin Allyson. In 2021, he shifted his artistic focus to the piano trio. 'Even though the piano is the main voice of the trio, I really enjoy a lot of interplay with the other musicians,' Bass says. '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.'
The chemistry among the three musicians together with their wide-ranging repertoire has not gone unnoticed. Reviewing Trio Nuevo Vol. 2, DownBeat praised Bass's stylistic range: 'Filling your palette with an overabundance of hues might render a clumsy outcome if you don't watch your step. Fret not: On the second album by his Trio Nuevo project, Dave Bass knows where every footfall should land. The pianist's big tent is home to a scad of pieces from distinct backgrounds (hardbop, Brazilian, classical, pop, Monk, a blend of Cuban/Spanish motifs), and the ease with which he binds them for this lively jaunt is as important to the music's character as his cohort's collective panache.'
That spirit continues on Vol. 3. Spanning influences from Bach to Brazil, Chick Corea to Disney, the trio creates a sound that feels far larger than three instruments—soulful, lyrical, adventurous, and consistently engaging. Bass contributes six original compositions to the eleven-track program.
The album opens with 'Neither Have I Wings,' originally recorded in 2019 with saxophonist Ted Nash. Reimagined for trio, the composition draws on the Brazilian baión, giving the music a driving rhythmic pulse and irresistible forward momentum. Bass's original composition 'Toccata' pays homage to Bach while forging its own path. 'I think Bach's compositions are the most beautiful music I've ever heard,' Bass says. 'No matter how long I've spent on a particular Bach piece, I'm always discovering new intricacies. For 'Toccata,' I wrote my own introduction—almost a separate composition—which is much slower than Bach's three-part fugue from the E-Toccata, which the trio plays sections of, mixed with improvisions over Bach's vocabulary.'
The traditional folk song 'The Water Is Wide' receives an understated, lyrical treatment that highlights its timeless beauty and emotional depth. One of the album's most inventive tracks, 'Fingerprints/Gantry,' combines Chick Corea's 'Fingerprints'—itself a contrafact of Wayne Shorter's 'Footprints'—with Bass's gospel-inspired original, 'Gantry.' 'I was watching Elmer Gantry,' Bass recalls, 'and there's a scene where the main character enters a Black church and joins the congregation singing a powerful Gospel song. That moment inspired me to write my own gospel-inflected piece.'
Bass also revisits the Disney classic 'When You Wish Upon a Star,' a childhood favorite. His reharmonization preserves the song's enduring melody while placing it squarely within a modern jazz vocabulary. Although not an avid ballet enthusiast, Bass found inspiration for 'BLACK SWAN' after attending a performance of Swan Lake in St. Petersburg. The melodies lingered long after the performance, eventually evolving into this evocative original composition.
The trio tackles Thelonious Monk's 'Work,' one of the pianist-composer's lesser-known pieces. Monk recorded the tune only once, and its angular, unconventional character makes it one of his most challenging compositions. Bass and his band relish its quirky bebop energy. 'Try a Little Tenderness,' first recorded in 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra and immortalized by Otis Redding in 1966, has appeared in countless films and recordings. Bass prefers to think of it as the theme song from Dr. Strangelove, and the trio gives the standard an elegant, fresh interpretation.
Bass's 'Lost Mambo' first appeared on his large-ensemble recording NYC Sessions, featuring Phil Woods, Conrad Herwig, Ignacio Berroa, and other jazz luminaries. Inspired by Juan Tizol's classic 'Perdido' ('lost' in Spanish), the trio version transforms the original into a leaner, more intimate conversation while retaining its infectious Cuban tumbao. Poetry has long been another of Bass's passions. The title 'Far and Wee' comes from E.E. Cummings' poem in Just, which suggests a world simultaneously bursting with new life and resonating with ancient mystery. Reflecting that duality, the trio improvises with free harmony – but on top of an easy swing.
The closing original, 'You Lose,' is Bass's contrafact on the standard 'If I Should Lose You.' While the original is often played as a romantic ballad, Bass transforms it into something more forceful and defiant, ending the album on an unexpected emotional note.
Throughout TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3, Dave Bass continues to demonstrate why he has become one of today's most distinctive jazz pianists and composers. His adventurous harmonic language, commanding technique, and wide-ranging influences—from jazz and gospel to classical music and Brazilian and Cuban rhythms—combine with the exceptional artistry of Tyler Miles and Steve Helfand to create a trio whose musical conversations are both sophisticated and deeply inviting. TRIO NUEVO VOL. 3 is a compelling statement from three musicians who continue to expand the expressive possibilities of the modern piano trio.
TRIO NUEVO, VOL 3 will be available digitally on selected platforms on October 2, 2026. Physical copies are now available at DaveBassMusic.com.
