OurStage

The Galaxie Rising Star Award is sponsored by Galaxie and administered through IAJE Canada and the National Jazz Awards. It is a cash award of $2000 and was presented at this year’s National Jazz Awards in Toronto on February 24, 2004. The award is intended to identify and honour an emerging young Canadian jazz artist (under 28 years old). The winner this year (chosen by adjudication) is 23 year old alto saxophonist Tyler Summers from Toronto and originally from Langley, BC.

Who says that all "Young Lions" revere only the Blue Note label? On the evidence of this enormously impressive debut, the peach fuzz on these guys' faces has been blowin' in the wind of imprints like Soul Note, CIMP, abd ESP-Disk. "'Young' Has Ended" indeed, as one of their titles states; when the music is this good, considerations of age become moot. I haven't been so blown away by an opening blast of free-bop since Side One, Cut One of Anthony Braxton's New York, Fall 1974. "Metropolis" building on a familiar melodic kernel, is an excellent demonstration of this trio's considerable talents. With a fabulous sense of structure and an involving tone, Tyler Summers kicks serious butt in his long alto solo. "Contemplation" and "Subterfuge" show him to have equal facility on soprano, with good pitch control, and a tone that ranges from Lacy-tart to Fasteau-round. Matt Wigton's "Patience" shows off his wiry, flexible chops on bass, supporting some hair-raising soprano moves from Summers. On drums, Stockton Helbing plays quiet assurance,using his kit with busy intelligence. He stokes Summers' rising fire on the 15-minute "Comprimising Fate" with rolling snare and cymbal work, and kicks assertively alongside Wigton's atmospheric arco solo. Reminiscent at times of the Threadgill/Hopkins/Mcall cooperative, Air, at others of Steve Lacy's various trio's, Trinity's freshman effort deserves to be heard by anyone with an ear for creative music.

Considering the size of the music program at NT, it is probably not very hard to find a jazz musician here. The three musicians in the Tyler Summers Trio, formerly known as Trinity, however, stand out amongst the crowd. “Our goal is that we first play the music for ourselves, or it isn’t meaningful,” said drummer Stockton Helbing, Florence, South Carolina senior. The group met at NT while performing with the One O’Clock and 2 O’Clock Lab Bands, and consists of saxophone player Tyler Summers, Langley, British Columbia senior and bassist Matt Wigton, Memphis, Tennessee senior. “It [NT’s jazz program] allowed three people from different parts of the world to meet,” Stockton said. “If I had stayed in South Carolina, I wouldn’t have come across the caliber of musicians that Tyler and Matt are.” The group formed in 1999 under the premise of exploring their own ability to compose and perform their original music, as opposed to the jazz standards they played in the lab bands, Summers said. “We try to break barriers with our music and not get pigeonholed into one style,” Stockton said. Wigton added that original compositions seem to garner more respect. “As the group evolved, our other musical influences have come into the band,” Stockton said. “Especially in Tyler and Matt’s writing.” In the bands short time on the jazz circuit, they have already recorded one album (as Trinity) and toured Canada and the eastern United States. “I don’t think they had even head of South Carolina or Tennessee,” Stockton said, in regards to the Canadian crowd’s reaction to their hometowns. The band performed five shows in two days while in Canada. Summers said that while it was exhausting, the experience was very good for the trio. Both Summers and Wigton take turns composing music for the group, according to Summers. “One of us will bring something in and then it evolves through a few rehearsals of it, where the three of us will put in ideas on how it should go,” Summers said. Their album, simply titled “Trinity,” was recorded live in the studio. If an album is recorded “live,” it means that the songs were recorded in one take and there was not a chance to go back and correct errors in playing. “The purpose of recording the album was not to go in with a studio sound,” Stockton said. “The idea was to go in with something raw.” The band recorded the album on the Maxwell Records label and recently changed its name from Trinity to the Tyler Summers Trio because of the religious connotations of the word “Trinity.” “Nothing against Christianity,” Stockton said. “We just didn’t want any preconceived notions of the band before they heard the music.” Recently, they have completed work on an album with trumpet player Paul Tynan under the moniker “The Paul Tynan Quartet.” The album, “Freedom and Jealousy,” will be released on Nohjoh Records in the next few weeks, Summers said. Summers said that they met Tynan in Denton after several performances at the State Club. “He would come out and listen to us every night,” Summers said. Though the band plays what is traditionally known as jazz, Stokton said the group has diverse influences including Kenny Garrett and John Coltrane, but also Duncan Sheik. “The three of us have very diverse tastes ranging from pop to jazz to funk to electronic to classical,” he said. The band is currently scheduled to have a release party for “Freedom and Jealousy” on Nov. 13 at the Texas Jive in Denton. Future tour dates can be found at www.maxwellrecords.com.