Live at the Uptowner
Calligram Records 0007
Release Date: November 3, 2023

Milwaukee drummer Dave Bayles makes his debut as a leader with Live at the Uptowner. Highly regarded for his work with mainstream jazz luminaries such as Barry Harris, Frank Morgan, and Charles McPherson, Bayles unveils an adventurous new conception on Live at the Uptowner. Aided and abetted by trumpeter Russ Johnson and bassist Clay Schaub, Bayles offers us a front row seat for the trio’s weekly residency at the oldest bar in Wisconsin.

Bayles selected his bandmates with the explicit intention of exploring new territory. “The pandemic forced us all to think about things and I wanted to do something out of my familiar zone. Russ was the perfect person for that, and Clay was the other perfect person. It’s opened me up to a lot of thing musically that I felt I needed to do.” His bandmates concur. “The job as far as the music here,” offers Schaub, “is to not get tangled up in judgements of good or bad but to keep the channel open, and carry on with intention and integrity.”

The Uptowner itself is the fourth member of the trio. “I guess the best way to describe it is bohemian,” says Bayles. “There are all walks of life, from priests to blue collar to white collar, young and old, really diverse.” The bar has character, culture and a commitment to art and music that has made it a regular watering hole for hip locals and visitors interested in making the scene. On Tuesday nights for the last two years that scene has revolved around the Dave Bayles Trio as the group honed their collective voice.

In addition to their contributions as performers, Johnson and Schaub composed all of the music heard here aside from Thelonious Monk’s “Shuffle Boil.” The set opens with a trio of tunes from the bassist. “Fitzroy” is a lovely lyrical melody set over a supple, driving vamp that shows off the trio’s rhythmic interplay and Bayles’ subtle shifts of color and texture. “Third Birthday,” for Schaub’s youngest daughter Miriam, captures her “innocence, joy, and chaos.” says the bassist. The melody’s stops and starts as well as the melodic language are reminiscent of Ornette Coleman. The composer also offers a bit of an Easter egg for the close listener, the three bar phrase structure mirroring Miriam’s third birthday. After a rubato introduction,“Sundogs” settles into a pensive groove and a folky bass solo with echoes of Charlie Haden, another tip of the hat to Coleman’s influence. Johnson’s intervallic improvisation is virtuosic without being brash, and the trio sustains a relaxed slow burn through the end of the track.

Johnson’s contributions complement Schaub’s, pushing the trio in different directions. “The Illusionist’s Sister” comes out of the gate swinging in a free-bop vein, but then reveals a contrasting rhythmic motif the trio exploits to great effect under Bayles’ drum solo. Of his role in the trio, the leader says “it’s not just time keeping, it’s being another voice in the composition. It can be gentle at times, bombastic other times.”

It can also be humorous at times, as is evident in “Quirks,” a sunny, tongue-in-cheek romp through Mayberry. There’s a sense of playfulness as well in the trio’s take on Monk’s “Shuffle Boil,” delivered here with a funky backbeat and growling trumpet.

The album concludes with Johnson’s “Horizontal Heartburn,” a loping groove bookended by Bayles’ fiery solo work. “I’m excited about this new music,” says Bayles. “It’s not that I’m throwing anything away, just opening up.” The crowd echoes his sentiment, roaring approval as the trio stops on a dime with a final descending flourish, another Tuesday night at The Uptowner in the books.