Home » Jazz Musicians » PLS.trio

PLS.trio

PLS.trio - pianist Pier Luigi Salami, bassist Martin D Fowler, and drummer Shawn Crowder - lies somewhere in between Northern European jazz and American contemporary jazz, bringing forth a highly energetic and deeply melodious mixture of modern jazz and electronic elements.

Tapping musical sophistication and tech savvy to lead their artistic toolkit, the group's focus on melody carries the listener along on a journey drawn from experiences of blazing through city streets and car horns of the trio’s native New York, all the way to landscapes reminiscent of sunny, mid-western countryside fields.

The trio released their second album, Cosmonauts, in January 2021 on DotTime Records, after previously completing a world tour in support of their debut album “East River”, released in February 2015 and acclaimed by press and critics. The album has received a nomination for best Debut Album and best New Release in the 2015 NPR Jazz Critics Poll.

With influences spanning from minimal and ambient music to hard-pumping dance music and bombastic rock styles, PLS.trio creates a blend which, while defying easy categorization, is compelling, distinctive, and oddly familiar.

PLS.trio: Cosmonauts

Read "Cosmonauts" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
January 27, 2021

Those in need of more elbow room, air space and humor may take quite a liking to the exploratory ventures found within the binary code of PLS.trio's multi-musics mashing Cosmonauts, available from Dot Time Records. It can be said we've heard this approach before, and we could compare it to this group or that individual or so-and-so quartet but, why the hell bother? A crash course of brash envoy and brazen definitions, Cosmonauts is crisp, wild fun; something ...

Album Review

PLS.trio: Cosmonauts

Read "Cosmonauts" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 23, 2021

Five years passed between the debut release from PLS.trio and this follow-up. East River (Echo Chamber) was one of the best albums of 2015 and elevated the piano trio format in a way that had not been heard since the Esbjorn Svensson Trio first made their mark. The COVID-19 virus kept PLS.trio off the stage, and a series of business and life events kept them out of the recording studio for long enough to cause doubt that they would hold ...

Year in Review

Top 12 "Read" Album Reviews: 2015

by Michael Ricci
December 31, 2015

All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent our top twelve published in 2015. East River PLS.trio by Karl Ackermann Published: February 22, 2015 The Thompson Fields Maria Schneider Orchestra by Dan Bilawsky Published: June 2, 2015 70 Strong Steve Gadd Band by Glenn Astarita Published: April ...

191

Album Review

PLS.trio: East River

Read "East River" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 22, 2015

The acronym that gives name to the PLS. trio is from the very gifted young Italian pianist/composer Pier Luigi Salami. Together with his American rhythm section, consisting of bassist Martin Fowler and drummer Shawn Crowder, the New York based trio have released an enormously winning debut with East River. The international make-up of the trio is reflected in this debut which is neither European nor American in style but rather a balanced modern jazz approach subtly enhanced with airy electronic ...

"Given the preponderance of piano trios, it is easier for the format to appear as a commodity than to articulate a point of differentiation. The PLS. trio has not only distinguished themselves but they may be one of the best in this category in many years." - K. Ackermann, All About Jazz

"A crash course of brash envoy and brazen definitions, Cosmonauts is crisp, wild fun; something we all deserve in case you haven't noticed or ventured far outside yourself these last five or six sad years" - M. Jurkovic, All About Jazz

"Cosmonauts finds PLS.trio looking outward and experimenting but not so much as to obscure their unique talent for stunning spontaneity" - K