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from 3rd Man:
"...I never knew Bloomington between the wars; with its pseudo-midwestern charm and cornfed smile...humid, state fair summers spent on midway fun rides. I am too young to remember the halcyon days of Stardust and Skylark...The Indiana I knew was simply an undignified ruin; a trailer park laden, harmonic wasteland...full of dank, dimly lit little corners; where using the wrong diminished lick could have sudden, unpleasant consequences...Black market librettos on every street corner...dark little rituals involving girls with guitars...a small town; full of big, generic dominants; all looking for that easy resolution. Life was cheap; and everyone worshiped at the temple of the Holy Round Ball...
...and always, there in the periphery of our vision...lurked the Third Man..."
from Freed Men:
"It was inevitable.
What Benny Goodman birthed in 1935, bebop did a serious drive-by on
and so it goes
The end of the millennium found our heroes ....(oh, how shall we say) out of favor with the current regime?
on the run?
who am I kidding,
They were always the underdog
the end of the sci-fi/noir dance crazy left them high and dry
our boys were out sourced.
but I guess it was for the best: assembly line, balliwood, video game lip-sync soundtrack...
they would rather die first
You want the truth?
Well you better hurry up, because the bosses are rewriting history almost as fast as we can crank it out.
This ain’t no truth sugar
You know what this is?
Parting snapshot
Yeah, that’s it
drunk staggering out of the party with his musical lampshade askew
a crayon drawing, hung with care on the ice box full with cacophony
that middle of the night voice mail that you don’t remember leaving
yeah, right...parting snapshot
we are not really sure of everything that went on...but it looked like a hell of a good time.
....they are gone....but they left this hastily scrawled note
Maybe if they can find a mail box out there, they’ll send us back a post card..."
Peter Kienle is a guitarist/composer in the John Abercrombie tradition of thoughtful, atmospheric fusion. The debut recording of his trio, 3rd Man, is tight, intelligent, and attractive. Wilhoit shows considerable Billy Cobham influence and Helsley, though sticking to acoustic bass throughout, displays some Stanley Clarke/Jaco Pastorius roots to go with his solid, straight ahead chops. All but three of the tunes are by Kienle (the others are by Dave Bruker), and those three seem to me the weakest on the disk. Kienle's pieces display a delicate ear for interesting harmonies and changes. His sound and technique are also very inviting: there's just the right touch of vibrato, phasing, reverb and distortion kissing his cool chords and fluid runs. There are a lot of inluences, but they all fit well together. In addition, all the playing is very good. On the opener, “E.T.C.A.H.N.” (don't ask me what that stands for) Kienle utilizes a washy, steel drum-type sound for much of his high-powered solo. “Evil Forces” opens like a vintage Mahavishnu Orchestra rampage (though it doesn't retain this feel)), and the melancholy “Blind Spot” has changes in it that reminded me of (get this!) Joni Mitchell. But in spite of the multiplicity of influences, there is a sweet, misterioso quality to most of the tunes, providing the whole enterprise with a consistent purpose. A number of the pieces have a slightly raucous feel, so that all they'd need is some furious comping on a distorted Hammond to fit nicely on a Tony Williams Lifetime album. In fact, one tune, “Kimbrellation”, even comes fully equipped with a punchy, Williamsesque drum solo. Three of the last four tunes don't do much for me, with a couple - particularly “aBROXimation” - seeming to need a saxophone or other lead instrument to soar over the top. (Mark Shim, would be a good fit with this band.) On the other hand, there's some excellent guitar and bass work on the closing “Navigator”. Clearly, 3rd Man leads one to expect some great music from this solid Indiana trio during the coming years.
Walter Horn, Cadence Magazine, October 1998, page 108
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