Triptych
Amusia
BDV 1087

Richard Fairhurst - piano
Jasper Hoiby - double bass
Chris Vatalaro - drums

"an exciting newly formed contemporary jazz trio"(Time Out)

"...a welcome and distinctive addition to the crowded piano-trio scene" (Jazzwise)***

"...always invigorating" Daily Telegraph

"The technical standard as enviably high and the music expresses its own identity". BBC Music

Formed in January 2008, Triptych is the brainchild of Babel recording artist /Steinway International pianist-composer Richard Fairhurst. But as the band moniker infers, this is a party of three musicians interacting, either mesmerisingly interlocked on one of Fairhurst's intricate rhythmically urgent compositions or breaking free in the CD's fiery spontaneous improvisational passages. Fairhurst's partners here the double bassist Jasper Hoiby is a member of LOOP Collective and leader of his own acclaimed trio Phronesis while Chris Vatalaro, is a member of Vortex regulars Jonathon Bratoeff and Seb Pipe among others. Triptych is a piano trio with a clear vision..

Richard Fairhurst though still only 32 years old, is an established Babel artist. He has already recorded four albums as leader for Babel , three with the Hungry Ants and the BBC Jazz award winning Standing Tall from 2004, one as co-leader with fellow Babel artist and BBC New Generation artist in the duo Mesmer. The duo appeared at the Proms last year at Cadogan Hall as well as live at Ronnie Scotts in January 2010 at a special Radio 3 Jazz on 3 .Triptych performed as part of a double bill with hip NYC piano trio led by Vijay Iyer in July 2010 Programme.


'Exciting newly formed contemporary jazz trio led by prodigous young pianist Richard Fairhurst, with fleet-fingered Danish bassist Jasper Hoiby and skillful, energetic US drummer Chris Vatalaro. Improvising in both cerebral and lyrical ways, Fairhurst's rabid imagination will doubtless further fuel the creativity of this trio'
(Time Out Magazine)


May 4th, 2009 Triptych - The Vortex
Live review by Chris Parker

'Triptych' is a highly appropriate name for pianist Richard Fairhurst's group, since it conveys both the stylistic homogeneity of the trio and (referring as it generally does to a central painted panel flanked by two side pieces whose content is shaped by the main picture) the artistic process at work within it. Fairhurst has been been playing professionally since his teens (he was performing with Iain Ballamy at Ronnie's way before he could legally drink there) and is shortly to record his seventh album for the Babel label, so his confidence and assurance as both composer and performer are givens; what is particularly striking about Triptych, however (completed by bassist Jasper Høiby and drummer Chris Vatalaro), is the subtle cohesiveness, hardening where required into fierce interactiveness, of the group sound. Fairhurst has always been a vigorously rhythmic player, often taking a relatively straightforward repeated muscular phrase as a starting point for his compositions, and a piece such as the first-set closer on this occasion, 'Dense Fur', perfectly exemplified this approach: a simple rising four-chord motif was at its heart, but the powerfully lithe bass comments of Høiby and the brisk whirr and robust, multi-textured percussive effects of Vatalaro
(his choice of brushes/sticks providing something of a master class in sensitive but propulsive drumming) provided the perfect setting for Fairhurst's pleasantly cluttered, punchy yet buoyant playing. Other pieces from the aforementioned forthcoming CD were also aired, showcasing not only the trio's controlled vigour, but also their skill in maintaining tension during the odd rubato passage, the relative freedom of which contrasted tellingly with the occasional lighter, dancingly lyrical
moment. An absorbing, unfussily virtuosic display from three classy
musicians'

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