TheKillMeTrio

TheKillMeTrio $10 Inside U.S. $12 Outside U.S.
Darius Jones: Alto Sax Shayna Dulberger: Upright Bass Jason Nazary: Drums TheKillMeTrio released a self titled CD of bustling originals and improvisations. Composed of Dulberger on upright bass, Darius Jones on alto saxophone and Jason Nazary on drums, the album begins quickly with Improvisation, a billowing track with large plucks at the bass met by the quick snare and aching sax. This is a marker of the music to follow, broad tracks of forward jazz. The trio converges and diverges, touching territories from full free jazz groupthink to a calmer, more melodic post-bop, often on the same piece. Citing influences from Fugazi to William Parker, Dulberger and her trio siphon a broad pallet of musical tastes and backgrounds into a cohesive and evolving album.
Reviews Time Out New York Led by bassist Shayna Dulberger, the Kill Me Trio is one of the stronger avant-jazz groups we’ve heard in some time. Dulberger, saxist Darius Jones and drummer Jason Nazary really let their music breathe—it’s tension-filled but always agile and never anxious, reminding us of classic units such as Henry Threadgill’s Air.9/17/07 Downtown Music Gallery Bruce Lee Gallanter When this low-key, but friendly young woman showed to play acoustic bass with Ras Moshe over the past year, I was amazed at how confident and creative her playing was/is at such a young age. Shayna's playing on the most recent disc from Ras, "Transcendence", is immensely probing and now here goes with her first disc as a leader and main composer. The oddly named TheKillMe Trio features another auspicious player named Darius Jones, who has worked with Mike Pride & William Hooker. What I dig about this disc is the way trio is so centered and well recorded with Shayna's propulsive contrabass leading the way. Four of these pieces are group improvisations and they are all intense, free and fully formed. "Improvisation II" captures the spirit of sixties free jazz with some scary bowed bass, squealing sax and swirling drums telegraphing the free structure. The other six pieces composed by Shayna are often free sounding, yet always have some inner logic or subliminal structure. On "Killher", the bass provides a central theme that begins freely and goes through different sections with great funky groove in one part as Darius shreds on his alto sax throughout the changing scenery. "Post Explosion" is a stark, suspenseful piece with the bass creating the immense drama as the sax and drums simmer and sizzle. "Myopia" is similarly structured with the bass repeating a few hypnotic notes over and over while the sax sails and squeals over the top. This is certainly a strong trio offering from a fine new trio that we should be hearing a lot about in the near future. 7/7/07 Jazz & Tzaz Greek Magazine Vangelis Aragiannis Shayna Dulberger: "TheKillMeTrio" (Self Produced)The 23-year-old New Yorker Shayna Dulberger does not comply with the trendy model of women in jazz. She does not play the piano, nor does she sing. Her music is not suitable for dancing, or for lounging and chilling out. Her instrument is the double bass; she plays free jazz, has collaborated with Daniel Carter and Jackson Krall, and among her main influences are Peter Kowald, William Parker and Peter Brotzmann. For her debut CD she selected a small group with Darius Jones on alto sax and Jason Nazary on drums, that is a pianoless trio, appropriate for free improvising. "The KillMe Trio", raw and raucous, just like its name, goes to the limit without being chaotic. From the 30 seconds of "Zeek" to the 9 minutes of "Myopia" - all tracks were first takes recorded live at the studio in the same order as they were put on the CD - the bass lines flow like a river from Dulberger's fingers, Darius Jones' blowing is massive, powerful and full of wild beauty and Nazary's rhythm is thunderous. At the closing track, the low toned and melodic "I Wish I Was", the bassist in loose and calm mood, sounds like wishing she had not to release all this energy from her. Both of her sides are equally interesting. Shayna Dulberger on "The KillMe Trio": Jason (Nazary) and Darius (Jones) have the energy and soul of my favorite musicians and the creativity and desire for different harmonies and different time feels. I found this very challenging. So naming the band "Kill Me" was like saying "come on, challenge me. I believe that in order to grow you need to challenge yourself. I have challenged myself by forming this trio with these advanced and gifted musicians and also by composing and arranging for the group. I learned that from musicians like Bach, Coltrane, and Miles. They all wrote compositions that helped them get to the next level. When we perform all of the compositions we perform the songs in this order like a suite. This helps to control energy. Since it is mainly a free jazz band I needed to figure out a way to have some control in very short parts but to still maintain that crazy energy from improvised music and free jazz. 3/9/07

Darius Jones: Alto Sax
Shayna Dulberger: Upright Bass
Jason Nazary: Drums

TheKillMeTrio released a self titled CD of bustling originals and improvisations. Composed of Dulberger on upright bass, Darius Jones on alto saxophone and Jason Nazary on drums, the album begins quickly with Improvisation, a billowing track with large plucks at the bass met by the quick snare and aching sax. This is a marker of the music to follow, broad tracks of forward jazz. The trio converges and diverges, touching territories from full free jazz groupthink to a calmer, more melodic post-bop, often on the same piece. Citing influences from Fugazi to William Parker, Dulberger and her trio siphon a broad pallet of musical tastes and backgrounds into a cohesive and evolving album.

Reviews

Time Out New York
Led by bassist Shayna Dulberger, the Kill Me Trio is one of the stronger avant-jazz groups we’ve heard in some time. Dulberger, saxist Darius Jones and drummer Jason Nazary really let their music breathe—it’s tension-filled but always agile and never anxious, reminding us of classic units such as Henry Threadgill’s Air.9/17/07

Downtown Music Gallery Bruce Lee Gallanter
When this low-key, but friendly young woman showed to play acoustic bass with Ras Moshe over the past year, I was amazed at how confident and creative her playing was/is at such a young age. Shayna's playing on the most recent disc from Ras, "Transcendence", is immensely probing and now here goes with her first disc as a leader and main composer. The oddly named TheKillMe Trio features another auspicious player named Darius Jones, who has worked with Mike Pride & William Hooker. What I dig about this disc is the way trio is so centered and well recorded with Shayna's propulsive contrabass leading the way. Four of these pieces are group improvisations and they are all intense, free and fully formed. "Improvisation II" captures the spirit of sixties free jazz with some scary bowed bass, squealing sax and swirling drums telegraphing the free structure. The other six pieces composed by Shayna are often free sounding, yet always have some inner logic or subliminal structure. On "Killher", the bass provides a central theme that begins freely and goes through different sections with great funky groove in one part as Darius shreds on his alto sax throughout the changing scenery. "Post Explosion" is a stark, suspenseful piece with the bass creating the immense drama as the sax and drums simmer and sizzle. "Myopia" is similarly structured with the bass repeating a few hypnotic notes over and over while the sax sails and squeals over the top. This is certainly a strong trio offering from a fine new trio that we should be hearing a lot about in the near future. 7/7/07

Jazz & Tzaz Greek Magazine Vangelis Aragiannis
Shayna Dulberger: "TheKillMeTrio" (Self Produced)The 23-year-old New Yorker Shayna Dulberger does not comply with the trendy model of women in jazz. She does not play the piano, nor does she sing. Her music is not suitable for dancing, or for lounging and chilling out. Her instrument is the double bass; she plays free jazz, has collaborated with Daniel Carter and Jackson Krall, and among her main influences are Peter Kowald, William Parker and Peter Brotzmann. For her debut CD she selected a small group with Darius Jones on alto sax and Jason Nazary on drums, that is a pianoless trio, appropriate for free improvising. "The KillMe Trio", raw and raucous, just like its name, goes to the limit without being chaotic. From the 30 seconds of "Zeek" to the 9 minutes of "Myopia" - all tracks were first takes recorded live at the studio in the same order as they were put on the CD - the bass lines flow like a river from Dulberger's fingers, Darius Jones' blowing is massive, powerful and full of wild beauty and Nazary's rhythm is thunderous. At the closing track, the low toned and melodic "I Wish I Was", the bassist in loose and calm mood, sounds like wishing she had not to release all this energy from her. Both of her sides are equally interesting. Shayna Dulberger on "The KillMe Trio": Jason (Nazary) and Darius (Jones) have the energy and soul of my favorite musicians and the creativity and desire for different harmonies and different time feels. I found this very challenging. So naming the band "Kill Me" was like saying "come on, challenge me. I believe that in order to grow you need to challenge yourself. I have challenged myself by forming this trio with these advanced and gifted musicians and also by composing and arranging for the group. I learned that from musicians like Bach, Coltrane, and Miles. They all wrote compositions that helped them get to the next level. When we perform all of the compositions we perform the songs in this order like a suite. This helps to control energy. Since it is mainly a free jazz band I needed to figure out a way to have some control in very short parts but to still maintain that crazy energy from improvised music and free jazz. 3/9/07