Small Blue was formed in the summer of 2023. I wanted to create a vehicle for my ever-growing catalogue of compositions in the classic jazz piano trio format, which I'd never used before. It also gave me the opportunity to work with two of my favourite musical colleagues. While I've spent a good portion of my musical life playing completely improvised music, I spend a huge amount of time sitting at the piano writing tunes. It's both a therapeutic process and very satisfying creative outlet, and over the years I have ended up with notebooks full of pieces. Exploring this repertoire with two such sympathetic and creative collaborators has been a joy. Marianne and David bring a huge range of experience and a really wide frame of reference to the table when we play together, taking my ideas on sonic journeys that consistently surprise and delight me. The music can be by turns lyrical, atmospheric, groovy, and mischievous.

Most of the tunes have a back story, often being inspired by novels or poems I've read, art I've seen, or places I've visited. - Martin Pyne

David Beebee: piano

Marianne Windham: bass

Martin Pyne: drums