“Over the past two decades, the Rosetta Trio has become one of the premier original chamber jazz ensembles, period.” - Hot House Jazz
I put Rosetta Trio together in 2004 to test out some new work I’d sewn together from many fragments that had came to me over the weeks and months after 9/11. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about starting a new group. I had this very personal material and needed to surround myself with people I trusted, old friends. Liberty and Jamie hadn’t previously played together, but I had a hunch there’d be sparks. I documented those first sessions, and upon listening I knew there was something special happening, that this was a band. Nevertheless, it took a lot of work for us to find how the ensemble might function, to balance the lift and the lean. That work led us to the first album, Rosetta. I hadn’t thought beyond this initial experience, but the trio kept playing, touring the States and Europe, becoming a deeper, more expansive version of itself. And there was more I wanted to try in the writing. Next, we made Reclamation, then Thwirl, for which I invited the guys to contribute compositions (Jamie’s piece made that album, and Liberty’s is presented here). As it turned out, there was yet more I wanted to try. It started with “Re Eyes,” which grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. By the time I finished the piece, I knew we were headed back over the mountain. And here we are, Outliers.
Rosetta Trio
LIBERTY ELLMAN · acoustic guitar
JAMIE FOX · electric guitar
STEPHAN CRUMP · acoustic bass
“Best Jazz Concerts of 2019”
San Diego Union-Tribune
“Best Jazz of 2019”
Rolling Stone
“Over the past two decades, the Rosetta Trio has become one of the premier original chamber jazz ensembles, period.”
Hot House Jazz
“like pure magic”
Nextbop
“They manage to say things that resound and hit home while speaking in a veritable whisper”
Marlbank.net
“The trio have always stood out, quietly constructing their own approach“
Marlbank.net
“As is always the case with this band, the album strikes a balance between delicate chamber atmosphere and direct emotional expression“
WBGO
“drummerless ensembles often attract epithets like ‘chamber music’, but the pulse and groove here are emphatic”
JazzWise
“music that is intricately constructed but retains a melodic foundation that reflects a commitment to song as well as arrangement”
JazzWise
“astonishingly beautiful playing”
London Jazz News
“The intelligence, sensitivity and sheer understated finesse of the late great guitarist Jim Hall live on in the music of the trio led by the bassist Stephan Crump”
London Jazz News
“not easily categorized…uniquely their own”
AllAboutJazz
“Theirs is a fearless string play of the first order”
Master of a Small House
“stunning counterpoint”
Bass World
“porch-swing avant-gardism”
CityPaper Philadelphia
“Rosetta Trio comes on like a quiet power trio, one that presents melodic material with aural elegance and no artifice…an undercurrent as strong as the Mississippi”
WBGO
“strong narrative sense, an unfettered conception of melody, and the confidence to elevate improvisations to a new level of empathy”
JazzTimes
“Inventive, deeply melodic and resonant…an ever-changing tapestry of sounds…music that is moving, beautiful and original…brilliant.”
NoTreble.com
“bareness in emotion”
NPR
“careful attention reveals the intricacies of its repertory and
the calm intensity of its rapport”
The New York Times
“stunning….as close to telepathy as we’re going to get”
The Jazz Session
“wiry, playful, lyrical, and funky by turns, there’s no other
group quite like it.”
The Boston Globe
“Here is a string ensemble for the new century!”
AllAboutJazz-NY
“controlled soulfulness”
Downbeat
“ingenious originals”
The New Yorker
“a low-key marvel: Chamber-ish in sonic temperament and containing melodies and harmonies that seem equally alluring and askew, it is at the same time full of bracing improvisation, a strangely intuitive group dynamic and sometimes urgent rhythmic propulsion”
JazzTimes
“intimate, engrossing originals”
The New York Times
“an uncommon knack for developing intriguing melodic and harmonic ideas out of abstract improvisational interactions”
AllAboutJazz
“The music, though understated, has a distinct forward-leaning rhythmic flow”
AllAboutJazz
“The strength of Rosetta Trio’s music lies in its quirkiness and steadfast refusal to identify with any one style or school”
AllAboutJazz
ALBUMS
Are you a writer/promoter? Check out the press/tech page for further information and downloadable materials.