
(Glass Onyon) The Pete Roth Trio return with Group Chat, a striking new CD/DVD release that captures the spontaneity, interplay and fearless musical conversation at the heart of this exceptional band.
Led by guitarist Pete Roth, alongside bassist Mike Pratt and legendary drummer Bill Bruford, Group Chat is Roth's third major album and a release of particular significance, marking Bruford's eagerly awaited return to headline performance after a 13-year hiatus, as well as his first appearance on new material in 19 years.
Produced by Pete Roth and Bill Bruford for Winterfold Records, Group Chat presents a trio that thrives on intimacy, risk and connection. Rooted in jazz but never constrained by it, the music moves fluidly through funk, contemporary classical influences and spontaneous improvisation, with nothing treated as untouchable. Original compositions such as Full Circle, Dancing With Grace and Original Sin sit alongside collaborative pieces including Part Of The Charm and Looking Forward To Looking Back, while the trio's inspired Improvisation on the Largo from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 underlines the breadth of their musical imagination. The result is a record that feels adventurous, immediate and alive - music made in the moment by three musicians listening as deeply as they play.
The release is presented as a two-disc digipak CD/DVD edition, complete with a booklet containing extensive notes and group photographs. Alongside the nine-track audio album, the package includes a bonus 35-minute DVD offering further insight into the trio's world, with performances, an introduction, and a special spoken segment from Pete Roth.
The music press reaction's have been emphatic. "The Pete Roth Trio is a band of equals, clearly loving the opportunity to improvise and have musical conversations," wrote Biff Bam Pop!, while Innerviews praised the music as "rich with nuance, invention, and telepathic rapport." Dr. Jazz Talks described the album as "a feast of rhythm and melody," and Make Weird Music summed up its appeal succinctly: "I wish more jazz was this much fun." Another review captured the trio's balancing act perfectly, calling it "loose enough that it could fall apart and tight enough that it grooves."
Pete Roth brings to Group Chat a background that spans blues, rock and jazz, shaped first in Germany and then refined through his studies and career in the UK. Mike Pratt, a highly regarded bassist, composer and producer with deep roots in jazz fusion and groove-based music, brings both harmonic imagination and rhythmic authority to the trio. For Bruford, whose career has encompassed groundbreaking work with Yes, King Crimson, Earthworks and a host of major jazz collaborators, Group Chat reflects a continuing commitment to the innovative, the unusual and the unlikely. Together, the three musicians create an experience that reshapes expectations of the guitar trio format, making space for melody, texture, groove and surprise in equal measure.
Group Chat is a vivid document of three distinctive musical voices in open conversation - intimate, exploratory, witty and deeply alive.
TRACK LISTING
DISC ONE: CD AUDIO
1. Full Circle
2. Part Of The Charm
3. Group Chat
4. Improvisation on the Largo from Dvořák's Symphony #9
5. Looking Forward To Looking Back
6. Summertime
7. Dancing With Grace
8. Original Sin
9. Hard Case, Soft Centre
DISC TWO: BONUS DVD
1. Introduction
2. Full Circle
3. Part Of The Charm
4. Group Chat
5. Improvisation on the Largo from Dvořák's Symphony #9
6. A Word From Pete
7. Hard Case, Soft Centre
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