Veteran L.A. bassist Ken Wild said it best about Trio Work, the tight, sparsely arranged set of standards he breezes and swings through behind the plucky strum of guitarist Tom Rizzo and the inviting cool of vocalist Susan Krebs’ graceful, breathy vocals. He says, “The name of this group is a misnomer. This is in no way work! When the three of us sit down to conceive an arrangement, the ideas seem to just flow…”
Navigating their own unique way through a wide expanse of Songbook standards (“My Foolish Heart,” “Don’t Go To Strangers,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is”) and other chestnuts from everyone from Jobim (“How Insensitive”) to The Beatles (“Eleanor Rigby”), the three celebrate one of the great joys of music making in Los Angeles: the opportunity to meet serendipitously at a single gig and create an indelible musical chemistry that collectively takes the musicians into depths of their artistry explored in no other outlet.
There’s pure lightness and freewheeling magic in each re-imagining, and Krebs’ crystalline vocals allow us to understand the storylines in a more meaningful way than ever before.