‘Trio’ by Pat Leary | Album Premiere
Exclusive album premiere of ‘Trio’ by Pat Leary, out August 4th, 2023.
Chicago jazz artist Pat Leary is known for playing the piano, but he abandoned the instrument when growing up and focused on guitar. He only rediscovered his passion for playing the keys in his early twenties, after being deeply moved by jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Glenn Gould.
He first began lessons at age six but didn’t dive into honing his keyboard chops until arounge the age of 24, when he said he locked himself in his room for five years to study everyone from Bach to Ravel or Wynton Kelly to Bud Powell. After spending years of studying and practicing, Leary’s own music has been blossoming.
The Pat Leary Trio is one of Leary’s projects, who is joined by Alex Santilli (the drummer behind Late Nite Laundry, songwriter known as The Adventures of Anacleto, and has joined artists such as Thee Sacred Souls and KAINA on stage) as well as Jeff Wheaton.
“The Pat Leary Trio consists of myself on piano/keyboards, Alex Santilli on drums/percussion and Jeff Wheaton on electric and double bass. These recordings were taken in Alex’s apartment above a Glitz Car Wash on a hot summer day in early August 2022. I hope to relay to the listener the feeling of being in the room, creating and communing with us. ‘Schmop’ and ‘Hoppin’ are both improvised by the group and ‘SOLAR’ is the jazz standard originally written and recorded by Miles Davis. I owe Alex and Jeff a great deal for contributing so much passion, perspective and presence to the conversation.”
The trio hails from the improvisational hub of Chicago, and their upcoming record consists of two original improvisations as well as the standard ‘Solar’ by Miles Davis.
“The recordings for the ‘Trio’ album started out very casually and they were originally intended to be demos for booking purposes. After giving it a few weeks and listening back, I really liked what I heard and decided to mix/master and put them out as a collection. It sounded fresh and unique to us as I could hear myself, Alex and Jeff conversing from a natural and deep place. Alex and Jeff only ever give all of themselves when playing and it’s incredibly refreshing and energizing. Our first gig as a trio unit was a standard gig at our friend Lucca’s art gallery and I personally love to play the beautiful old standards.”
Headline photo: Carson White
Pat Leary Official Website / Instagram / Bandcamp / SoundCloud
