"3now4"

Chicago Tribune, Sunday, August 9, 1998
Jazz / Cutting Edges

New Orleans embraces the modern
without losing touch with its roots

By Howard Reich
Tribune Arts Critic

Experimental music also is integral to New Orleans jazz today, as in an exceptional, self-titled recording, "3 Now 4" (SEM). Strange sonic effects, blurred tones, bent pitches, unmetered improvisations - these form the working vocabulary of this band (staffed by pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley, trumpeter/flautist Charlie Miller, bassist James Singleton, and Johnny Vidacovich and Jeff Boudreaux sharing drum duties). Yet because these are New Orleans musicians, they take pains to make even their most audacious passages inviting to the uninitiated. Only in New Orleans could music as unconventional as this sound nearly danceable.

The following is from a Memhpis based literary journal, Beatlicks. The writer is Dennis Formento.

"...Easley is gifted with one of the great inexhaustible musical imaginations in this city. During one 3Now4 set at the Dragon's Den, he took two long solos with a brief excursion by tenor saxist, Tim Green, sandwiched between… what amazed me was not the length of Dave's improvisations, but that he seemed never to repeat a single phrase. The music just kept tumbling out of that pedal steel like snowflakes, no two riffs ever the same, produced as effortlessly as breathing."

1. Lauren Z (Singleton)
2. Mudmen (Seibirth)
3. Cunning, Like Silver in her Bones (Singleton, Easley, Miller, Boudreaux)
4. About Face (Pelera)
5. La Sirene (Singleton)
6. Switchin' Mamas (Singleton)
7. Judista (Pelera)
8. Not But Not For Me (Gerwshwin)
9. La Lingua (Singleton)
10. Bulldog Run (Singleton)
11. Twilight Dance of the Sand Dragon (Singleton, Easley, Miller, Boudreaux)
12. My Back Pages (Dylan)
13. Adventures of the Sand Dragon (Singleton, Easley, Miller, Boudreaux)
14. Bone Slavish Ten Dance Seas (Singleton, Easley, Miller, Boudreaux)
15. Nightmare Thief (Easley)

"Time Ebbing"
3now4 with Dave Easley

Review from OffBeat Magazine, a New Orleans Music monthly: 

3 Now 4 are a constantly are a constantly revolving and evolving unit that creates a continually fascinating universe of sound. Bassist James Singleton, pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley, drummer Jeffrey Boudreaux, and special guest reedman Nicolas Simion offer an engaging balance of atmosphere and adventure.

While Singleton and Boudreaux form a solid rhythmic core that drives the band, Dave Easley is the one who really flies! Dave Easley has collaborated with Brian Blade, Daniel Lanois, and Joni Mitchell, and is one of the freshest and most essential voices in instrumental music today. Easley soars, shifts, and flows, forming elegant patterns passing from sphere to shining sphere.

Reedman Nicolas Simion was born and raised in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania and befriended Singleton in Vienna, leading to a friendship that has culminated with his joining 3 Now 4 for a European tour and on his recording debut with the band on Time Ebbing. Switching from saxophone to bass clarinet, Simion fits right in with 3 Now 4's creative aesthetic. ...

With the exceptions of "Lover Man" and Thelonious Monk's "Off Minor," Time Ebbing is an all original work featuring compositions that hover around the five to eight minute range and effortlessly form an enjoyable recording that offers many happy returns.

1. Fighting Song
2. Bulldog Run
3. One for Kisses
4. La Sirene
5. Lauren Z.
6. Lover Man
7. Off Minor
8. Don Wanna-Be
9. Uganda
10. By Some Steely Night Ordained
11. Time Ebbing