Joel Yennior Trio
Big City Circus
Brass Wheel Music
www.brasswheelmusic.com
By George W. Harris

Here’s a format that you don’t see often: trombonist Joel Yennior teams up with guitarist Eric Hofbauer and drummer Gary Fieldman for an incongruous yet successfully freewheeling release. The guys can go to effusive ballads like “A House Is Not A Home” or can get down with Chicago blues, as on “Blues For Justice Lost.” They use space in a cohesive way, as on the ballad “Postcard To Dorothy” and can also go quite edgy, as they carom and bounce around on “Breakthru.”

Yennior is known for his part in the Either/Orchestra, and this disc just goes the next logical step in terms of creative exploration. More user friendly than you’d think.