2010 · Album
Introducing Triveni
Recorded 2009 · Fresh Sound New Talent · Produced by Jordi Pujol
Three Voices Finding Common Ground
Waits leads a trio that listens as much as it plays, trading space with unhurried generosity.
The first thing you notice is air. Nasheet Waits opens this record with space between the notes, letting each instrument breathe into silence before the next one arrives. The drums stay sparse and conversational, the kind of playing that makes you hear what's not being struck as clearly as what is. Waits has the restraint of a player who learned by watching, not just playing — his cymbal work suggests rather than states, his kick drum nudges rather than pushes.
The trio itself is the whole story here. Three musicians, no more, finding what happens when you refuse to fill every gap. Melodies emerge gradually, sometimes from unexpected places. A bass line might start hesitant, then anchor itself. The piano (when it enters) doesn't rush to establish harmony — it joins the conversation as a third equal voice. Pieces breathe across six or seven minutes with no sense of filler; they unfold like Waits is discovering them in real time, following an instinct rather than executing a plan.
This is Waits early in his career, still testing what a bandleader hears and wants to say. The album doesn't announce itself or demand attention. It's the opposite: it asks you to move closer, to listen the way the musicians are listening to each other. Nothing here feels like duty or display. That restraint, that refusal to oversell, is exactly what makes it worth your time.
Who's playing
Where next?
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
