"Third Person was an improvising trio formed in 1990 in New York City, led by cellist Tom Cora and drummer Samm Bennett. Each performance featured an invited guest: A third person. Guests included guitarist Marc Ribot, harpist Zeena Parkins, clarinet player Don Byron and saxophone players George Cartwright and Kazutoki Umezu and many others.
The trio's music was entirely improvised, but typically quite melodic, and even funky.
With Cora's death in 1998, Third Person effectively dissolved.
Discography:
The Bends (1991, Knitting Factory Work)
Trick Moon (1991, Tsuki No Uso)
Lucky Water (1995, Knitting Factory Works)"
(info from Wikipedia)
2 reviews from the
old Knitting Factory homepage: (
http://web.archive.org/web/20060316231908/http://www.knittingfactory.com/labels/b...ubCat_Selected=1 )
"Third Person - The Bends KFW 102
The basic idea is simple: a trio with two permanent members and one invited guest. Tom Cora and Samm Bennett plus third persons Don Byron, George Cartwright, Chris Cochrane, Nic Collins, Catherine Jauniaux, Myra Melford, Zeena Parkins, and Marc Ribot turn out improvisations so masterfully that they sound like compositions. Each amazing trio was recorded live at the Knitting Factory.
Third Person - Lucky Water KFW 156
This group was formed in 1990 by percussionist Samm Bennett and cellist Tom Cora. By design, the third member of this trio is ever-changing. It's a group which is continually re-inventing itself. With this working principle, the band achieves the consistency of its two founding members' telepathic interplay, as well as the element of surprise and unpredictability resulting from the "wild card" status of the third member. For their new release, "Lucky Water", Cora and Bennett have decided to spotlight one guest member with whom they have developed a very sympatico musical relationship, namely Kazutoki Umezu. Umezu ("Kappo") is a saxophonist who has joined Samm and Tom on a number of concert tours in Japan, and recently in the United States. Third Person's New York performances during this last tour were recorded and from these come "Lucky Water"."
