History The Crimson Jazz Trio

As the name implies, the Crimson Jazz Trio (CJ3) was a trio that covered King Crimson songs, turning them into instrumental jazz compositions.

The official site has this to say about the genesis of the band:

Drummer Ian Wallace conceived the idea for the CJ3 while on tour with the 21st Century Schizoid Band. “I had so much fun playing these songs again, especially live where there was much improvisation. I thought it might be a cool idea to rearrange some of [the King] Crimson material in a jazz format.”

In early 2004, while living in Nashville, Ian met Jody Nardone on a gig with jazz singer Annie Sellick. After the show, he discovered that Jody was a huge King Crimson fan. They discussed Ian’s idea and later got together to work on arrangements.

Later that year, Ian moved back to Los Angeles to work on “The Ten Commandments” musical. Tim Landers, also a big King Crimson fan, was the bass player on the show. They discussed the idea and Tim signed on to record the project and play bass.

One thing led to another and in May 2005, Jody joined Ian and Tim at Tim’s Mudzone studio in Woodlands Hills, CA and together they made some magic.

(http://www.crimsonjazztrio.com/Bios.8.0.html)

The band was working on a second album, The King Crimson Songbook, Volume Two, with assistance from Jakko Jakszyk and Mel Collins (Wallace's colleagues in 21st Century Schizoid Band; Collins is also a King Crimson alumnus) when Wallace passed away on February 22, 2007, succumbing to esophageal cancer.

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