Chris Madsen: Threefold
Calligram Records

It's a confident player who takes on the challenges of the chordless trio format, but saxophonist Chris Madsen appears particularly comfortable dispensing with an harmonic cushion. No doubt having partners as locked-in as bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall makes a difference, as does the fact that Threefold isn't their first outing as a trio. Composition and improvisation balanced as effectively on their 2023 set The Trio Book, and the three also played together on Madsen's 2019 album Bonfire though on that release augmented by piano. In contrast to the earlier trio set, Threefold eschews covers for eight originals split evenly between Madsen and the bassist. Their writing's grounded in tradition yet also wholly emblematic of contemporary jazz.

Recorded on May 14, 2025 at Chicago's Pro Musica studio, the Madsen-produced Threefold invites the listener to appreciate the subtleties that emerge when three players are interacting so closely. There are quiet and intimate moments, for sure, but the music never loses its foundation of swing. Madsen's “Digital Harvest” lunges from the gate, his trilling soprano accompanied by flurries of cymbals and the bassist's stabilizing patterns. Listeners of a certain age might hear Nefertiti-era Tony Williams in the eruptive slam of Hall's cymbals and drums, while the leader blows with the same kind of abandon Coltrane brought to his own soprano flights. As much satisfaction's to be had from Sommers' pulsing patterns. Here we're already presented with a powerful illustration of the balancing act between structure and freedom the three carefully execute throughout the set.

Its swinging groove calling Ahmad Jamal's “Poinciana” to mind, “Shadow People” overlays a shuffle-funk pulse with half-time tenor ruminations. Witnessing Madsen riff so breezily over his colleagues' roiling base testifies to the confidence he shows in the trio set-up, and the flexibility of the format's seen in the ease with which the leader's solo shifts to one by the drummer. Meanwhile, “Revolving Door” doesn't quote Ornette Coleman directly, but its stop-start structure, crisp melodic phrases, and Hall's Ed Blackwell-like playing certainly suggest it's an homage of sorts. For that matter, Sommers' bass lines could also pass for a riff on Charle Haden's early playing with the Fort Worth legend.

After an explorative drum solo, Sommers' “Hidden Message” settles into a slow, ballad-styled treatment that calls forth sensitive interplay, the drummer's brushes and cymbals a nice complement to patient musings by the others. At almost ten minutes, the track's the longest of the eight and affords all three ample space to maneuver and assert their identities. The album's biggest earworm arises in Madsen's “Dream Music,” its sing-song theme providing an enticingly soulful springboard for the leader's tenor statement. Armed with a keening saxophone lick and insistent hiccup, his slow'n'bluesy “Man of Action” also tickles the ear.

Even when the music roars with intensity (see Sommers' closing “Buyer's Remorse”), a relaxed vibe permeates the album's tracks, but it reflects the comfort these Chicagoans have with one another, not laziness. All three ease into each performance with authority, confident in their abilities and in the support they'll receive. Memorable themes distinguish one composition from the next, some so catchy (e.g., “Dream Music”) one could imagine other jazz artists adding them to their own songbooks. It's interesting that Madsen's trio has evolved into an all-originals presentation considering that when the project began the focus was on offering fresh takes on lesser-known jazz pieces and standards—“canonical material,” in the saxophonist's words. Regardless, the experience each brings to the trio enables them to navigate through their music's rhythmic and harmonic twists and turns with confidence.

April 2026