The only public concert I played the entire year of the covid pandemic lockdown was a virtual one for broadcast on the internet. Mike, Ed and I imagined being on stage together and presented a program just as if we were playing in front of an audience of real people. There were no second takes, no overdubs, no corrections; we simply played each tune and then moved on. The CD package you are holding in your hands and the sounds that are filling your ears are the document of the live concert we played in actual fact for an audience of one, our videographer John Farrell, who taped and edited the video. John is also a professional sound engineer, and he captured the sound of the trio during recording and skillfully mixed the audio. — John Stein

This is a John Stein session. Listen to John. Listen to what he plays. Listen to what he does not play. Listen to how he subtly and without pressure catalyzes collaboration. Yeah, you’ll hear astonishingly reimagined performances of Sonny Rollins’ “Alfie’s Theme,” B. Kaper and N. Washington’s “On Green Dolphin Street,” and Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t.” You’ll ask yourself, how could musicians in these isolated and challenging times create such art? Then listen to John’s compositions like “Labor of Love,” “Bing, Bang, Boom,” and “Elvin!” And finally, hunker down for John’s “Happy Hour,” which here and typically marks the end of one of his hour-long offerings of alchemy. Breathe in. Breathe out. This is beautiful and important stuff. — John Thomas, from the liner notes.

John Stein, guitar; Ed Lucie, bass guitar; Mike Connors, drums.

More Serendipity Videos