Myra Melford Splash Trio

Visionary pianist Myra Melford’s adventurous new trio with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ches Smith is a continuation of her groundbreaking series of projects inspired by the work of painter Cy Twombly. They perform compositions from her new album SPLASH.  

A longtime professor of music and improvisation at UC Berkeley, Melford has created a singular body of work that crystalized the influences from her own teachers Art Lande, Jaki Byard, Don Pullen, and Henry Threadgill into a boundless quest for uncharted musical horizons.  

From the texts of Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano to canvases of Sacramento painter Don Reich to the cuisine of Oakland chef Paul Canales, Melford has drawn inspiration from a far-flung array of sources. Her deep engagement with the mysteriously poetical paintings of the late Cy Twombly (1928–2011) has yielded projects with her evocatively titled Fire & Water Quintet and now Splash Trio, featuring Formanek and former Bay Area-based percussion great Ches Smith. 

As the eminent critic Nate Chinen wrote in the album’s liner notes, “Formanek and Smith are alert listeners and adept shape-shifters, as they’ve proven time and time again. Together with Melford, unpacking this music, they’re able to evoke the gestural dynamism and surging volatility that gives Twombly’s work so much of its power.”