Sullivan Fortner Trio

As a pianist, Sullivan Fortner is a master at shifting gears. He spent years as a key member of trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s quintet. He and vocal phenom Cécile McLorin Salvant regularly perform in concert settings large and small, but most prominently as an incomparable duo.

And last year Fortner released the one-man tour de force Solo Game (Artwork) to acclaim. But this year our critics acknowledge his work as the leader of a new project, granting the title of Rising Star Jazz Group to the Sullivan Fortner Trio. In a phone chat with DownBeat, the bandleader reveals what makes his latest ensemble with bassist Tyrone Allen and drummer Kayvon Gordon so exceptional.

Fortner says the tighter format of the trio allows for greater freedom, both conceptually and improvisationally. With fewer elements to consider, the group’s collective imagination is the only limit on its musical exploration.

“One of the obvious gains is that I get to control the melody and how it’s played,” he says. “But the cool thing about playing in a trio setting is there’s less input, which leaves more space to create.”

Fortner and his two collaborators have no trouble filling that space with “different, fun scenarios,” as Fortner describes them. Fun, in this case, means foregoing the predictable, and admittedly, he tends to put Gordon and Allen through their paces on the bandstand.

“I’m very grueling because I always change things — but that leaves a lot of wiggle room for things to happen in a trio setting,” he says.

Adding to the challenge, Fortner doesn’t allow any charts on these gigs — an approach to performing that might not work as well with a larger group or a singer (Salvant being an exception). Further, Fortner prefers to keep the sound as spontaneous as possible and will often use the group’s sound check as a “mini rehearsal” for the set to come; sometimes he’ll even introduce unplanned tunes during the set itself. (In these situations the sight lines are important, he says, so he always sets the band up “pretty close,” affording Gordon and Allen a ready view of his left hand.)

“I teach everything to the trio by ear. I just say, ‘This is the song — listen to it and let’s figure out a groove that works on it.’ That’s it. And then we just play it on the gig,” he says.

Fortner’s bandleading, demanding of precocity from his players, lends a raw, unpredictable sound to the group as it digs into what is essential in the music they’re performing. Not surprisingly, he’s necessarily careful in picking tunes for the trio, and while songbook standards might be on default for other highly improvisational groups, Fortner favors originals, looking to avoid tunes that are too familiar to the audience (“unless it’s a ballad,” he clarifies).

For these originals, Fortner find ideas everywhere: operatic arias, classical song cycles, slow blues, driving funk, rousing gospel, all of the jazz sub-genres — even television jingles. None of his compositional choices are random, however; with this eclecticism he is making a point.

“The goal is to start to break the barriers of genre,” he explains. “I’m trying to dispel all of these rules and say, ‘Look at these songs as just songs and look at music as just music. Get your hands dirty with deconstructing things, with reconstructing things.’ We definitely have a good time with it.”

Program and cast

Sullivan Fortner: piano
Tyrone Allen: bass
Kayvon Gordon: drums