Active since 2006, this all-star jazz collective with pianist Myra Melford, bassist Mark Dresser, and drummer Matt Wilson has toured all around the world and recorded two critically acclaimed releases, The Big Picture (2007) and The Guest House (2012). Myra Melford has distinguished herself through her unique ability to blend jazz with elements of blues, Indian classical music, and avant-garde improvisation. She has pursued a creative vision that is both wholly distinctive and all-embracing, where composition and improvisation interact seamlessly and ingeniously, one side strengthening the other. Divergent idioms and eras coalesce—from jazz, blues and global folk styles to various corners of the classical tradition. Extramusical influences—the poetry of Rumi or the spirituality of the Huichol Indians of Mexico—also figure in the mix. In the end, Melford’s efforts are probably best served by labels like “contemporary music” or “new music,” or other tags that signify artistic freedom and daring more than any boundaries of genre.

A 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, Melford was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as an “explosive player, a virtuoso who shocks and soothes, and who can make the piano stand up and do things it doesn’t seem to have been designed for.”

Myra Melford– Piano

Matt Wilson – Drums 

Mark Dresser – Bass

Saturday April 19, 7:00 PM

“Melford, Dresser and Wilson’s thrillingly unpredictable performances update the venerable piano trio tradition with bold invention.” —  Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz

This performance of Trio M is made possible by a donation from Melinda and Paul Pressler.