Gary Bartz and the Third Trio from the Sun begin with an enlightening medley of sound. The long awaited Bartz delivers a slow building intensity as he glides between renditions of standards like an ice skater doing perfect figure eights. The entire band stands tall and Gary brings that smooth ass jazz coolness from the 50’s into the twenty-first century with such ease.

This is a cat that has lived with, dined with and experienced the fruits of jazz music at its finest with other legendary creators of the music. If the names Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner and Miles don’t sound familiar to you, then you may not turn off your computer and go back to watching television.

Experiencing music is not just listening and enjoying what you hear, you receive a gift. The gift is knowledge that comes not only from the musician but, from everyone that he has ever admired and played with during his lifetime. The richer the experience of the musician, the vaster is the gift of knowledge. In the case of Gary Bartz, not only are you given his history, but all of the new nuances to the music that he gets from his younger band mates as well. These players strongly contribute to the sound and take Gary to places that he would not have been without them.

Andy Langham is a big burst of energy on piano and is all up in the sauce. You can feel his happiness as his body language cannot be contained while trading notes with the players. It is a conversation that is exciting and the exchange is very expressive. Hamilton Price is another tall drink of rhythm. He is easy going, hard hitting and creates the perfect mixture of a youthful sound while expressing the technical historic sounds of the straight ahead vain. He can call up a galaxy of notes on command like a cluster of stars. And, we all know the “Thrasher” Gerry Gibbs. This cat adds the soul to the tits and tats and has us all bobbin’ our heads while working his kit like two turntables at a break dancing convention!

Playing some of the purest and loveliest tones, Gary gives you a sense of time, travel and the forward progression of a seamless circle of sound. You don’t know where one tune ends and the other begins, but you do know that the circle will be round, even and continue to take you on an adventurous musical journey. The velocity of the rotation of sound produces heat. From a spark to a flame right back being as cool as ice, the band creates a place for us to live right there in the pocket!

Through the years, Gary has been an excellent sideman and a very impressive leader. From albums like “Members Don’t Get Weary” and “Soul Finger” to his own creations like “Another Earth”, “Shadows”, “Reflections of Monk” to his brand new disc recorded at the Jazz Standard in New York called “Live @ The Jazz Standard-Vol.1-Soulstice”.

From the old school to the new school and back, Gary embellishes a collaboration of wisdom, energy and the spirit of cool hipness to the sounds of jazz music.

LeRoy Downs