The Hideaway Sessions

“Grasshoper”

(Blue Canoe)

An assemblage of seasoned contemporary-jazz vets, TriTone Asylum draws on its members’ collective influences and experiences to create a definitive L.A. jazz sound. The band formed in 2009, following some informal jamming by trumpeter Philip Topping, guitarist Andy Waddell and bassist Peter Sepsis, who discovered they shared similar artistic touchstones — namely Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Pat Metheny and other artists on the ECM label. While initially conceived of as a trio, the group expanded to a sextet — all the better to express their electro-acoustic aesthetic — its sound swirling around Topping’s electric valve instrument. On TriTone’s sophomore recording, The Hideaway Sessions  (Blue Canoe), Topping is joined on the frontline by saxophonist-flutist Ian Vo and guitarist Waddell on “Grasshopper,” our selection, its sunny Latin groove fattened by pianist and keyboardist Mitch Forman, bassist Sepsis, drummer Dave Johnstone and percussionist Billy Hulting.