- Edward Ware -

The Triphonics were a New Zealand based trio, formed in the early 1990's (I co-founded the Tri-phonics with New York born N.Z. based composer, Jonathan Besser). This trio is an early expression of my interest in exploring music which is texturally transparent and formally open - employing improvisation as a central mode of expression, but without stylistic constraint.
The transparency is achieved partly through the trio format, but equally importantly, by avoiding the use of a solely bass orientated instrument. This openess in the lower register of the ensemble sound enables the piano, trombone and/or drums to create suitable grounding for the musics' development at any given moment in its life, and furthermore requires that each instrument be able to shift freely between melodic, harmonic or rhythmic requirements.

The group self released a studio recording, gave a concert tour of New Zealand for the Northern Regional Arts Council there and conducted a number of educational workshops through out the country. In 1996 I was invited for a week to teach improvisation at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. I decided to take the Tri-phonics (Triphonics in China), so in April 1997 we made a short tour including gigs in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China culminating in the final concert at the Shanaghai Conservatory.

The band has not performed since, but the recording is available here as Mp3 files for free download.