Trio M (Myra Melford, Mark Dresser, Matt Wilson)

The jazz piano trio is generally a discreet form, where a fluently beautiful surface is maintained even as the music’s interior shines with intricately circulating dialogue. Trio M, though, re-imagine the piano trio as an emphatic dramatic space. The players draw on familiar genres — fiery, Pullen-esque flamenco on "brainFire and bugLight,” warped after-hours blues on "Modern Pine” — but shift the music’s focus towards the fore-grounded structural tensions between the three individual voices. Their musical gestures have a boldface feel, packed full of detail, but are primarily concerned with setting out carefully angled planes of force, in the manner of a Vorticist sculpture. Bassist Mark Dresser is the lynchpin, his huge, out-of-the-depths sound and terse rhythmic drive tugging against Melford and Wilson’s looser, more sprightly approach. This group’s performance at the last Guelph Festival was one of its most talked-about concerts. If you missed it, here’s your chance to hear what the fuss was about.