Under the banner of QSOCurrent, Trichotomy will take its genre-busting sound to new heights in an evening of wonderfully unpredictable, absorbing and distinctive music as they play alongside the textural depth and rich harmony of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Trichotomy, a jazz trio like no other, started out 16 years ago and have since found themselves performing their music all over the world. The group’s sound is driven by award-winning pianist Sean Foran, teamed with John Parker’s expansive dynamic and timbral range on percussion and topped off with Sam Vincent’s visceral touch on the double bass.
The trio prides themselves in their inventive and eclectic approach to jazz music, in which they combine a range of genres, techniques and dynamics to produce something completely out of the ordinary. “We come at things from different influences. We really appreciate traditional jazz, but we're interested in a lot of different styles of music, so I think that comes out in the music that we write,” John says.
One of the most remarkable things about Trichotomy is their tendency to improvise a lot of their live shows, making performances exciting and captivating as it takes audiences on unexpected twists and turns. This means they appeal equally to both jazz fans and the non-jazz audiences, giving them the ability to fit an array of venues and festivals. They do this without compromising on style or musical intensity. “There is a huge element of improvisation. Maybe about 50 percent – it’s hard to put a figure on it, but it's a lot of improvisation. What’s interesting about improvising is that it has that danger aspect that it could fall flat, but that could be the basis of a new idea. You just learn from that, so it keeps it interesting.”
Tomorrow night (15 May), Trichotomy will team with 11 of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s best to take their music to a new level. “Well just the combination of instruments – we haven't had something like that before, so I guess the collaborations we had last year were big, but this is the biggest instrumentation that we've ever had to work with so far so it's exciting. And to be able to work with musicians of that calibre is also very exciting.
“It's strange for me because I trained doing classical percussion, so when I left university I did a bit of casual work as a percussionist with the [Queensland Symphony] Orchestra. I have played drums with the Orchestra a couple times as well, so it's a strange sort of homecoming for me in a way. But in terms of the trio, it’s definitely something new for us.
“It's gonna be really awesome – not only the music, although the music will be a big part of it. We've got our friend Andrew Gibbs who's doing live visuals for the gig. We've collaborated with him in the past and it's just really cool what he does – he takes the live sound and puts it into visuals.
“We're also working with a lighting designer, so that's gonna be really cool, so I think visually it's gonna be really impressive. Also the instrumentation is something we've never done before. It's bigger and better. And it's a new space that we've never played in so that's exciting as well. And it's new music as well! New music, new arrangements of existing pieces, it’s gonna be really awesome.”
QSO and Trichotomy play The Edge at the Queensland State Library 15 May.
