Bill Grimes - The Trio Reunited: One More Once (2020)

After teaching for 34 years, bassist Bill Grimes retired from the LSU School of Music. As part of the transition to a new adventure away from the academy, Grimes presented several “Coda Recitals”. The concert captured in this recording, April 27, 2018, was a reunion of the trio that was very active in Rochester NY from 1981-1989.

Red's Blues was written for jazz bass icon Red Mitchell, who was also a great piano player and songwriter. Dobbins had the pleasure of making the first recording of it with Red, live at Bradley's in New York in the early 1980s on the album "Where One Relaxes". The tune was also in this trio's repertoire during the same period.

Hello There, Katiclaire was inspired by the birth of Dobbins' granddaughter, Katiclaire Anderson Dobbins. It evokes a lyrical mood with an element of surprise, recalling the exhilaration of personally welcoming the new arrival shortly after her birth.

A Quiet Voice – composed in 2008, Grimes returned to Rochester while on sabbatical. For a short time, he resumed the student/teacher relationship with Bill Dobbins. Dobbins’ compositional guidance and mentoring resulted in this composition.

Less is More (Rich Thompson) is a loose "contra fact" on Frank Rosolino's tune "Blue Daniel." Rich wrote the melody over the changes of the 14-bar form and then added an improvisatory "pedal section" to give the feeling of Elvin Jones’ performance on John Coltrane’s arrangement of "Out of This World". These two contrasting feels add meaning to the title, less is more!

T Time is a tribute to Monk, with the T standing for Thelonious. Monk's compositions dance and make ingenious use of rhyming, spiked with dissonance to emphasize every brilliant corner.

For You, With Love is a Dobbins ballad, written for his wife of fifty-five years, Daralene. Hopefully, the music expresses some of the priceless feelings that come from a lifetime with a very special person; feelings that can't be expressed in words.

Waltz for JB is a Grimes composition, inspired by his son Jonathan. Jonathan, an excellent drummer, served as recording engineer for this project.

Living in the Present – another Grimes contribution, it was composed in 2015 as a teaching tool for advanced students in a chamber jazz setting.

Waltz for Clare is dedicated to keyboardist/composer/arranger Clare Fischer, and was included in the third volume of Dobbins' series of books, The Contemporary Jazz Pianist. Their first personal encounter occurred when Fischer telephoned to say, "I just played through your composition Waltz for Clare, and I have to let you know that you got a little too close for comfort." The two were fast friends from then on.

Dobbins' arrangement of Lover Come Back to Me was put together during the early days of the trio's 1980s tenure. It is designed to highlight the ensemble aspect of a small group, and it seemed to resurface in different bands through the years, including when the trio had an opportunity to reunite for a special occasion.