Compiled as a tribute to Motian, his occasional series has now been collated in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its initial session. Whether or not the drummer began his project as a riposte to Keith Jarrett's ‘standards trio’, which he apparently refused an offer to join, he clearly moved away from the Bill Evans tradition he helped found (and which Jarrett adhered to). The first three albums here, done in the space of three years, took his established trio with Lovano and Frisell and added Motian's frequent partner, Haden (plus, on Vol.3, the interesting choice of Konitz making a quintet). The spaciousness of the group, taking its cue from the drums but carrying over to the melodic aspect, sheds much new light on the familiar tunes of Gershwin, Arlen, Porter et al. Of course, Frisell is key to this approach, paying lip-service to the harmony in creative ways but not allowing it to dominate. Interestingly, ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ from Vol.1 uses Evans's altered changes, but not as a ‘look-at-me’ reharmonisation.

There's an abrupt change in surface characteristics with belated follow-ups done in 2005 and 2008 and credited to Trio 2000 + Two. The first of these trios consists of Potter (a worthy successor to Lovano but quite different) and Grenadier, with the non-simultaneous additions of Grenadier's wife, the regrettable Martin on seven tracks, and the idiosyncratic Kikuchi on the remainder. He's heard throughout the last album, channelling Monk on ‘Just A Gigolo’ and elsewhere groaning like Bud Powell, with the less compelling Stillman and Attias lending a downbeat ending to the enterprise, on much longer, slower tracks (including, for a change, one Motian original). Even here, the tightrope-act of retaining traces of the originals but turning them inside out works at times, but the three early albums are where it's at.