New Release: Live at Blue Llama from the David Janeway Trio

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New Release:  Live at Blue Llama from the David Janeway Trio
Label: Steeplechase
Release Date: May 4, 2026
Artist Website: davidjaneway.com
Label Website: steeplechase.dk

Recorded live on June 15, 2024 at the Blue Llama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the David Janeway Trio demonstrates a collaborative engagement on their release Live at Blue Llama that is nimble, spontaneous, and lyrical.  Featuring David Janeway on piano, Robert Hurst on bass, and Billy Hart on drums, the album showcases a handful of jazz standards mixed in with a number of original compositions.   Their original work “Sweet and Lovely” draws from Latin influences in the rhythmic grooves, in addition to traces of bop in the melodic phrasing of Janeway's cantoring keys.  The trio's respond and exchange creates a dynamic dialogue.  The reflective mood of Gary Peacock's piece "Gardenia" is comfortably paced, displaying a warm interplay between Janeway's languid keys and Hurst's slow trembling bass.  Janeway’s blues-based “K’s Shuffle” balances spacious doodles with thrusting keys and a shuffling beat.   The trio's rhythmic play on the tune alternates between bouncy and lingering softly.  The shifts are seamless, demonstrating the trio's polished performance, displaying their deep familiarity with their movements to produce harmonious patterns.  Apparent in their reiteration of Billy Strayhorn’s “Star-Crossed Lovers” exhibiting Janeway’s flexible playing as his attention moves from smooth phrasing to nimble assertions.  Live at the Blue Llama is Janeway’s third trio recording on Steeplechase, detailing their instinctual rapport, dynamic interplay, and fluid musings.

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