Splatter Trio
Splatter Trio | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Splatter 3 |
| Origin | Oakland, California, US |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1987–1995 |
| Label | Rastascan Records |
| Past members |
|
Splatter Trio was a San Francisco Bay Area-based experimental music and free jazz group featuring Dave Barrett on saxophone, Myles Boisen on guitar and bass, and Gino Robair on drums. They formed in 1987 and released five albums before splitting up in 1995. Splatter Trio's music was rooted in jazz, but they often explored several other genres.
Biography
[edit]Splatter Trio were formed in 1987 in the San Francisco Bay Area by Dave Barrett with Myles Boisen and Gino Robair after Barrett watched Boisen and Robair performing John Zorn's game piece, Cobra with the Rova Saxophone Quartet.[1][2] Barrett played saxophone, Robair, drums, and Boisen a custom-built double-neck guitar and bass.[3] Drawing on the experience gained from working with musicians and groups like Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith and the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Splatter Trio developed their own brand of musical improvisation and experimentation.[4] Robair said that rather than confining themselves to musical structure, they played with it, like "sonic playdough".[4] Boisen added, "We don't get lost, but we also don't know where we're going."[5] Mark Corroto stated in All About Jazz that Splatter Trio was seen as "the West Coast version of John Zorn's various New York Downtown bands", but far less serious musically.[1]
Boisen said Splatter Trio used the word "Splatter" in their name because that was the kind of music they intended playing: "Painterly, but also kind of bloody... half-Pollock and half-Peckinpah."[6] Guitar Player music critic Mark Dery described Boisen's guitar/bass playing in Splatter Trio as "splatter jazz", which he defined as "a musical genre that invites comparison to both action painting and moviemaker Sam Peckinpah's abstract expressionist tableaux of bullet-pecked bodies and flying gobbets of blood."[3] Boston Globe music critic Bob Blumenthal also used the term "splatter-jazz" when he reviewed the trio's self-titled debut album. Blumenthal called the album "diverse, terse and pungent", and a "most unexpected treat".[7]
Reviewing a Splatter Trio concert at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco in 1993, Tim Kenneally wrote in BAM magazine that while "[p]hilosophically ... they seem to be firmly rooted in the jazz tradition of improvisation", they do not play jazz in the traditional sense.[5] Kenneally stated that their music often drifts into the "musical netherworld" with "strong tendencies toward garage-band caterwauling and King Crimsonesque space artiness".[5] In a review in DownBeat of another Splatter Trio concert at the HotHouse jazz club in Chicago in October 1993,[8] John Corbett said that the trio's performance was largely led by Robair, who laid down rhythms for Boisen and Barrett to build on. Their set varied from free jazz to garage rock to extracts from "Tomorrow Never Knows", and ended with "a sneaky tango".[9] Corbett noted that unlike their records where they were constantly "surprising each other", this live performance had "an air of complacency" about it.[9] He added that part of the problem may have been Boisen's double-neck guitar: just when the saxophone, bass and drums are connecting, "the bass would often drop out, foiling expectations and fouling the sound".[9]
Splatter Trio released their self-titled debut album in 1990, and went on to record four more albums.[10] They split up in 1997 when they made their final appearance at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco.[11] During this final performance they also incorporated pre-recorded solo CDs made by each of the members which were played randomly during the show, thus creating a "virtual double-trio".[11] A reunion concert occurred in 1998, which was followed by the release of Splatterarities Vol. 1, a compilation album of material from Splatter Trio's career.[10]
Discography
[edit]- Splatter Trio (1990, CD, Rastascan Records)
- Fistful of Dewey (1992, CD, Racer Records)
- Anagrams (1992, CD, Rastascan Records)
- Jump or Die (with Debris) (1994, CD, Music & Arts)
- Hi-Fi Junk Note (1995, CD, Rastascan Records)
- Splatterarities Vol. 1 (1998, CDr, Limited Sedition)
- Clear the Club (2007, CD, Rastascan Records)
- It's a Stool Pigeon Universe (with Steve Benson) (2021, CD, Rastascan Records)
Members
[edit]- Dave Barrett – saxophone, ocarina, DX-7
- Myles Boisen – custom-built double-neck guitar and bass, Casio
- Gino Robair – drums, sampler, theremin
References
[edit]- 1 2 Corroto, Mark (November 19, 2007). "Splatter 3: Clear The Club". All About Jazz. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
- ↑ Kelp, Larry (October 26, 1990). "Folksinger tries 'A Little Tenderness' on first album". Oakland Tribune. San Jose, California. p. 14. ISSN 1068-5936 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Dery, Mark (March 1992). "Myles Boisen's Sonic Jabberwocky". Guitar Player. Vol. 26, no. 3. New York City. p. 26. ProQuest 222420726. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- 1 2 "Splatter Trio". Bay Improviser. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Kenneally, Tim (July 30, 1993). "Live in the Clubs: President's Breakfast, Splatter Trio" (PDF). BAM. No. 413. p. 42.
- ↑ "The Splatter Trio". Rastascan Records. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
- ↑ Blumenthal, Bob (October 10, 1991). "Nightlife: Splatter-Jazz". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 120. ISSN 0743-1791 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Creative Audio Archive". Explore Chicago Collections. Retrieved September 9, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Corbett, John (January 1994). "Caught: Splatter Trio". DownBeat. 61 (1). Chicago, Illinois: Maher Publications: 53. ISSN 0012-5768. ProQuest 224960778.
But there was an air of complacency about it; the Splatts weren't surprising each other as they do on record. Instead, they seemed to be coasting, not trying to think past awkward stops and starts, just going with them. An inherent problem rests in Boisen's twin-necked SG. It's tempting to think of it as one long instrument, as if the bass was just a deeper continuation of the guitar. But it's not—it's two instruments. And just when things really started to build with the bass/drums/sax trio, the bass would often drop out, foiling expectations and fouling the sound.
- 1 2 Layne, Joslyn. "Splatter Trio". AllMusic. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
- 1 2 Ouellette, Dan (January 12, 1997). "Early Tupac Cuts Coming Out". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. p. 219. ISSN 1932-8672 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- Splatter Trio discography at Discogs