Small Blue - Furrow (2025) [Hi-Res]

Small Blue is a piano trio in the classic modern jazz tradition, featuring strong material which includes straight ahead swinging tunes and beautiful ballads - but always with a twist from the compositional mind of drummer Martin Pyne.

Small Blue was formed in the summer of 2023. I wanted to create a vehicle for my ever-growing catalogue of compositions in the classic jazz piano trio format, which I’d never used before. It also gave me the opportunity to work with two of my favourite musical colleagues: bass player Marianne Windham and pianist David Beebee.

While I’ve spent a good portion of my musical life playing completely improvised music, I spend a huge amount of time sitting at the piano writing tunes. It’s both a therapeutic process and very satisfying creative outlet, and over the years I have ended up with notebooks full of pieces.

Exploring this repertoire with two such sympathetic and creative collaborators has been a joy. Marianne and David bring a huge range of experience and a really wide frame of reference to the table when we play together, taking my ideas on sonic journeys that consistently surprise and delight me. The music can be by turns lyrical, atmospheric, groovy, and mischievous.

Most of the tunes have a back story, often being inspired by novels or poems I’ve read, art I’ve seen, or places I’ve visited. - Martin Pyne

“Pyne has also written twelve exceptional compositions for the new group that immediately gives the trio an identity and repertoire that marks them out as rather something special.” Jazz Views reviewing Small Blue’s debut album The Stealthy Moon