MYSELF ON GUITAR, MARK EGAN ON BASS AND PAUL WERTlCO ON DRUMS, fell into this recording in practically the worst physical shape of our lives. We were on tour and the travel involving the various dates was quite strenuous. Most stressful was the car/train/air journey from Berlin to Cork for the Cork Jazz Festival on October 27, due to terrible winds and storms across Europe. We arrived in Cork just in time to sound check and perform - whew! Thats the jazz life, at times... you roll with it. . After Cork we wended our way to a small town in Austria near the German border the name of which escapes me, then hired a driver to transport us up to the Heidelberg area for the recording. - OK- we all had some kind of grippe or something, none of us had much of an appetite, I couldn't move from my guitar chair- not even enough to adjust my amp -but somehow we could still play. . We also had present what we call in Buddhism "shoten zenjin" - protective functions in the Universe-in the persons of Frank Kleinschmidt and his engineer, Winnie Leyh. Frank helped steer the direction of the tunes and Winnie recorded the music so cleanly and beautifully that, in spite of our feeling under the weather this recording session was a fortunate experience for us. . Perhaps the most interesting tune from the session was the short little piece, we improvised near the end of the second day, 'Three Way Split." We liked it because it was totally spontaneous, plus we developed different sections - some out of time, some swinging, that gave the whole thing sort of a nice structure. . The other pieces were strong, I feel, because we had been playing them every night. "Good Citizen Swallow", an original of mine composed in the 60s, has been recorded several times, but this version was different in the sense that the trio put its 'original stamp' on the piece.

You see, when you (as a guitarist) play with Mark Egan, you're not only getting the role of the traditional bass, but also you're getting an extension of the guitar. This is because Mark makes brief, discreet forays into the guitar register to alternately compliment and challenge before he returns to the lower pitches to "lay pipe", as Mark likes to put it.

Paul Wertico -what can I say? We seem to have the same inner clock when it comes to rhythm and timing. Paul listens to a lot of rock music as well as jazz. This makes his musical philosophy quite in tune with mine, in terms of having a wide-open vocabulary to draw upon as we improvise. : But it is as a pure drummer that Paul really excels. His intro to 'Spaces Revisited'; as well as what he's doing throughout that entire track, demonstrates his special talent for eliciting group cohesiveness as well as showing his individual virtuosity.

The first 'Spaces Revisited-recording, years ago, was done by the great Billy Cobham; Paul more than held his own in his distinctive rendition, complete with some of the most fantastic technique this side of Billy himself.

Mark Egan brought several compositions to the table for this project, but we settled on "Tricycles" as the best one for our trio's chemistry.

This was the first thing we recorded at the studio, and it was one take; the tune is so original, so beautifully constructed, and it was reminiscent of Miles' music, which was a major plus for me. This track was so good we decided to name the CD after it. :

The Beatles piece, 'She's Leaving Home'; was initially going to be thrown out, because Frank thought we shouldn't change our instrumental sound -that would take the element of consistency out of the mix, but we recanted this position after I heard the performance - which sounded better than I remembered. The fact that I did it on acoustic guitar turned out to be a plus rather than a minus. _ We wrote a couple things on the spot - 'Stable Fantasy' was inspired by two great players/composers in my life: Benny Golson and Cedar Walton, The front part was influenced by Cedar (listen to what Mark does on this section in particular- quick, hip phrases underneath), and the bridge came from Benny- the point is, if you take from one, thats plagiarism, but if you take from more than one, well, thats simply research.

Other heroes of ours needed to be honoured, especially Thelonious Monk - his two tunes, 'Round Midnight"and "Well You Needn't" sound different any time anyone plays them. Because of the unique nature of Monks composing, his pieces allow any player to 'personalize- the creative experience because of the stylistic options available. : So - we were sick as dogs, on the road, homesick and tired, but all those seemingly negative factors ceased to matter when we started playing. if anything, being a bit distracted by illness helped us to focus, to concentrate on why we were there - to serve our muses, to respect our heroes and masters. In other words we had the privilege of expressing ourselves in the spontaneous 'music painting' that is jazz, where we spin notes rests and sounds into a permanent aural document of collective wisdom.

Larry Coryell