biographical info
The See Through Trio is comprised of pianist Tania Gill, saxophonist Mark Laver, and bassist Pete Johnston. Established as a unit in the summer of 2004, the members of the trio share a mutual interest in exploring the practice of collective improvisation. To this end, the group has focused on developing an ‘equal voiced’ approach to ensemble playing, where the roles traditionally assigned to these three instruments in a jazz ensemble are replaced by alternative ways of structuring the musical space. The Trio’s compositions draw on a diverse range of styles and musical traditions, and reflect the members’ conception of improvisation as an open-ended process of engaging with the music one encounters in daily life. As such, the playful, deconstructionist spirit of jazz exists in the Trio, in that the three players take in the musical materials presented by their experiences playing other musics and reinterpret them in new and unexpected ways when playing together. The See Through Trio has performed at many contemporary music venues in the Toronto area, including the Tranzac club and the Arraymusic Studio, as part of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto’s Leftover Daylight series. Other notable performances include: the 2005 Distillery Jazz Festival in Toronto, the 2005 University of Toronto Contemporary Music Festival, and the 2007 Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax. The trio is a work in perpetual progress, as it is the process of music making that is of interest to the group, rather than the perfecting of performances of the individual compositions. Their debut CD “Our Own Devices” (independent) was released in June 2007, and is available at www.zunior.com, or by writing to info@seethroughtrio.com
lineup
Pete Johnston Bass
Mark Laver Saxophone
Tania Gill Piano