Tin Hat Trio

If Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli brought in a talented accordion player for their sessions and shared a bottle with Tom Waits and Astor Piazzolla, you'd still only have a part of the vibrant creativity embodied by Tin Hat Trio. Soaring violin melodies evoke European Gypsy traditions (and classical training), while jazzy guitar slips from background to forefront, with colorful melodies and syncopated rhythms set to the old-world drones of various pump-organs, toy pianos and accordion. They've lent their talents to many -- assisting artists such as Tom Waits, guitarist Bill Frisell and minimalist Philip Glass -- adding their distinct, ethnic, chamber style to every session. Rarely can three virtuosos come together for such musically unselfish and utterly innovative sounds.