Reviews for Three For All

From All About Jazz
By John Kelman

Just because artists have played with each other in other contexts doesn’t necessarily mean they will be successful when they come together as a unit for the first time. Saxophonist Dave Liebman has worked with electric bassist Steve Swallow before—most notably on Swallow’s first release as a leader, Home (ECM, 1980)—and drummer Adam Nussbaum in an early group also featuring a young John Scofield. Nussbaum has been Swallow’s drummer of choice for many years, most notably on his marvellous trio record, Damaged in Transit (XtraWATT/ECM, 2004).

But all three have never worked together before. While there’s enough individual chemistry to suggest that putting them in a room together would be a slam dunk, that's not guaranteed to be the case. Fortunately, these three don’t just work well together, they sound as if they’ve been doing it for years, making their new group We Three and its debut album Three for All as easygoing and effortless an affair as one could ask for.

Considering the strong personalities involved, what’s most refreshing about Three for All is how purely collaborative it is, reflecting each player's personality. Swallow has always possessed a dry sense of humour, and his three contributions manage to be challenging while keeping tongue planted firmly in cheek. Even his gentle ballad “The Start of Something Small” feels just the slightest bit idiosyncratic. Liebman’s cascading notes suggest greater power, but never lose sight of the delicate underpinning from Nussbaum’s brushwork. Jaco Pastorius may be most cited as the player who redefined the potential of the electric bass, but Swallow’s approach—exploiting the full range of the instrument and combining harmonically suggestive lines with more direct chord voicings—is uniquely innovative just the same, though it may not have the same panache.

Considering Liebman’s propensity for post-Coltrane expressionism, his two contributions—the metrically challenged but subdued “Cycling” and the gradually building “The Jewish Warrior”—are surprisingly understated, despite their unassailable swing. Still, his soprano solo on “The Jewish Warrior” burns as brightly as anything on the disc, and Nussbaum is right there with him, starting on brushes, but eventually switching to sticks and ultimately greater force.

Still, despite the occasional burst of heat, Three for All is so relaxed that one can forget just how potent a combination this is. Despite the drummer's energetic and telepathically locked-in support from Swallow, as well as Liebman’s leaning-to-the- extreme tenor work, Nussbaum's “BTU”—a carryover from his work in guitarist John Abercrombie’s organ trio—retains a litheness that doesn’t use that energy as a crutch, but rather a tool for organic evolution.

A pensive reading of “I Only Have Eyes for You,” a look at Miles Davis’ “All Blues” that proves you can swing in 5/4, and a wry take on Thelonious Monk’s “Played Twice” support the trio’s unhurried approach with its own material. Three for All is an album that's so inherently cohesive, it almost passes by unnoticed. But its staying power rests in the greater depth it reveals with each successive listen.

From Jazz Times
By Forrest Dylan Bryant
 

Liebman, Swallow and Nussbaum have moved in the same circles for nearly four decades. But surprisingly the three of then have never all worked together in the same band. Until now.

With Three For All, the newly minted trio wastes no time in catching up. The disc is relaxed and playful, a nicely balanced program of upbeat and quiet playing that shows off the group’s remarkable rapport.

As the lone horn voice (on saxophones and flute), Liebman naturally captures attention first. His playing throughout the set is adventurous yet restrained, as he lets fresh ideas change course like quicksilver without allowing them to overwhelm the mood. He’s boozy on sly covers of “I Only Have Eyes For You” and Thelonius Monk’s “Played Twice,” honking merrily along in Swallow’s “Up and Adam” or floating and fluttering in the eponymous “We 3.”

The key to the group is that it truly moves as a collective, each member responding instantly to the others. Swallow is clearly having a good time as his bass takes lyrical strolls through the tunes, occasionally pausing to investigate a particularly juicy phrase. Nussbaum’s drumming tumbles and stutters, sliding in and out of a background role as if on coasters.

Low key, fun and informal, this challenging yet thoroughly accessible album offers myriad joys.


 

By Robert R. Calder

This is maybe my favourite Dave Liebman recording, in part because of the other two players on it. Drummer Adam Nussbaum composed the title track, and by alternating between the bass and guitar capacities of his instrument, Steve Swallow makes a little masterpiece of Liebman's creative improvisation. There's much more to it than pretty phrasing--nothing loose, perfect tension, no longueurs.

When Swallow goes all bass on his own “Up and Adam,” Liebman's tenor skips, displaying virtues associated variously with Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins; and on another Swallow number, the lyrical, midtempo “Whistling Past the Graveyard,” the tenor echoes are nearer to Ben Webster. Liebman's no chameleon; these varying resemblances just help map his exceptional personal tonal variety. He uses space, and the spaces he leaves on this number fill amazingly, with Nussbaum's alterations of dynamics and accent. Notice Swallow's walking bass on his electric instrument.

”The Jewish Warrior” starts out almost Celtic, Liebman's soprano sounding flute-toned, Swallow sounding almost Indian. “I Only Have Eyes for You,” which starts with the bassist playing his instrument like a guitar, later finds him and Nussbaum keeping things going through a virtuoso multi-note ballad performance in the line of Benny Golson, Don Byas, and Lucky Thompson. Attention to detail liberates this set from looseness, and when Liebman repeats a riff or motif, he does so with new phrasing each time.

Swallow calls upon a whole range of voices on the bass guitar. Its middle voice gets great play on Nussbaum's “Cycling.” Yet another of Swallow's compositions here, “The Start of Something Small,” could pass for an unknown Ellington ballad for Johnny Hodges. There are three terrific ballad performances here, as well as Nussbaum's riff-theme ”BTU,” a fast-medium performance surging to such a temperature that the studio fade of the last bars might have been a safety measure.

The rhythm titans provide a very full dynamic background for Liebman on Miles Davis's ”All Blues,” with a very notable train rhythm passage toward the conclusion. The duo passage on Thelonious Monk's “Played Twice,” bridging between a theme statement on soprano (something like the recently deceased Steve Lacy's classic performance on The Straight Horn) and Liebman's own very individual solo.

The last time I saw Lacy, I came away from the performance with a friend asking me, “why is jazz so satisfying?”

I'll refer him to this set.

 

From All About Jazz
By Florence Wetzel

“We Three” is a treat for the ears, 12 songs by three of jazz’ strongest players. Their group combines decades of experience, friendship and the player’s mutual respect and affection radiates through the music’s easy grace. As individuals these musicians are capable of just about any jazz genre so when you put them together the possibilities can;t help but be robust.

There’s an incredible variety of moods on the CD which combines originals and standards. Their individual compositions are quite excellent but the group shines on the chestnuts. The spare arrangement of ”Played Twice” perfectly captures the essence of Monk’s ineffable essence. There’s nice electric bass work by Swallow who gets a lot of solo space and Liebman cuts loose on the solo but otherwise plays the melody’s bones. There’s a deep version of “I Only Have Eyes For You” that expresses the romantic heart of the song with nary a drop of doo-wop sappiness. Liebman is gently emotive, Swallow spare and lyrical, Nussbaum delightfully precise. The highlight is their fabulous version of “All Blues.” Swallow plays his bass line funky, giving the song a wonderful lift; Liebman finds the melody’s slippery slope and Nussbaum gets ample time front and center, his rhythmic patterns a joy to behold.

What a pleasure to hear such beautiful music played so joyfully and masterfully, A lot of life has gone into this CD and the result is jazz full of originality plus grateful acknowledgement to the great masters from three new ones.
 

From All About Jazz
By C. Michael Bailey

We Three is a trio of giants, composed of winds-fixture Dave Liebman, ubiquitous bassist Steve Swallow, and accomplished drummer Adam Nussbaum. With a line up like this, the listener might expect something a bit out of the ordinary and that is precisely what he or she gets. If Dave Liebman is in the picture, Thelonious Monk cannot be far behind, and indeed that master appears on the rarely covered “Played Twice.” Liebman’s soprano tone is sharp and tart in the head and then lazily lags into the solo, supported by Swallow’s elastic bass fiddling. The trio relationship here is more about contrapuntal interplay than ensemble performance. The players stop just short of going their separate ways and maintain the common groove.

            The Monkian spirit of “Played Twice” infuses this disc with adventure and abstraction. The disc opens on a funky spunky note with “What Time Is It,” with all on board for a boisterous ride. Adam Nussbaum’s “We Three” is introduced by a lengthy soprano saxophone figure before stretching into a nuevo ballade with Steve Swallow’s signature strummed bass. When soloing, Swallow chooses a circuitous harmonic path that broadens the composition’s time. Swallow returns the favor of composition with “Up And Adam,” where Liebman plays tenor over a treacherous time signature nailed down by Nussbaum and Swallow (Monk is never far away).

            The standard “I Only Have Eyes For You” is presented with a Swallow pizzicato introduction before Liebman’s tenor flows in languidly over Nussbaum’s light tom-tom play. Miles Davis’ “All Blues” is taken at a full waltz, Liebman’s soprano saxophone presenting the theme with virtuosic conviction. Trio dates don't get much better than this one. If We Three is where the saxophone trio has come since Sonny Rollins’ trios in the late ‘50s, then the direction must be right

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