The Danny Fox Trio – Wide Eyed

The Danny Fox Trio

Wide Eyed
Hot Cup Records

Danny Fox – Piano
Chris van Voorst van Beest – Bass
Max Goldman - Drums

When I first came across Wide Eyed, I thought, “Another piano trio?” I almost passed on the CD, but as it turns out Danny Fox and his group actually have something to say. 

Fox is a new name to me, but it turns out his debut CD came out on Songlines a couple of years back. He’s worked in diverse situations from jazz to chamber orchestras to a New Orleans repertory band, and this varied background might explain why Wide Eyed is not a theme-solos-theme, business-as-usual record.

Several pianists came to mind as I listened to Wide Eyed, but I realize that sounds like Fox is merely derivative and that’s not the case. What he does have is the ability to connect the dots between classical piano, contemporary jazz piano and the blues, somewhat like Paul Bley. I recently listened for the first time to the Russ Freeman Trio from 1957 (Russ Freeman/Richard Twardzik, Pacific Jazz) and I was struck by similarities to that what Freeman was doing back then and Fox’s approach today. The music that The Danny Fox Trio makes is harmonically adventurous, yet melodic and with a strong sense of groove, although not always “swing” in the traditional sense. Fox even throws in a little Ramey Lewis-style boogaloo for good measure.

"Accessible yet heady" is what Justin Cober Lake wrote about the group in Pop Matters, and that’s as good a description as I can think of to describe The Danny Fox Trio.

Here's a video for the song Sterling: