"Few artists exult in the joyous exhilaration and intrepid spirit of communal music-making with the fervor and vitality of visionary bandleader, trumpeter, composer and arranger Steven Bernstein. With a breathtaking pair of intimately interrelated new albums, he applies that bold passion to an uncharacteristically pared-down setting, then transforms those stunning sounds via a startling process of sonic reinvention.
ResoNation Trio convenes a new chordless trio with master improvisers Scott Colley on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. The album's contemplative explorations feel like a departure from the raucous spirit that characterizes so much of the trumpeter's work, yet the trio discovers such an audacious beauty and celebratory gusto in these sparse environments that the music feels uniquely Bernstein's. It is also a rarity in his oeuvre for featuring Bernstein - whose mastery of the little-used slide trumpet has become so central to his sonic identity - exclusively playing valve trumpet and flugelhorn.
In parallel with this captivating trio excursion, Bernstein handed the recordings over to his longtime collaborator, the pioneering producer Scotty Hard, to reimagine the album through his own iconoclastic lens. The result is the uncategorizable Ultra Resonance, which finds Hard breaking down the ResoNation Trio session into its constituent parts and redeploying them as the elements of a wholly original, mutant creation. The project will be released on June 5, 2026 via Royal Potato Family as a double vinyl or CD package containing both albums, and separately on digital streaming platforms.
The spacious, skeletal pieces that Bernstein penned for ResoNation Trio open new and expansive pathways for the veteran trumpeter while harkening back to his early experiences on the experimental 1980s Downtown scene and the influence of pioneers like Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Baikida Carroll, Wadada Leo Smith and Butch Morris.
