The Trio of Doom was a short-lived
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...
consisting of
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
* Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter
* John McLaugh ...
on guitar,
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bass guitar, bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1 ...
on bass, and
Tony Williams on drums. They were brought together by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 1979 to play the
Havana Jam
Havana Jam was a three-day music festival that took place at the Karl Marx Theatre, in Havana, Cuba, on 2–4 March 1979. It was sponsored by Bruce Lundvall, the president of Columbia Records, Jerry Masucci, the president of Fania Records, and ...
festival in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
alongside
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
,
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...
,
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...
, and others.
They were named by Pastorius. He had earlier called his bass the "Bass of Doom," because of its growling sound.
Their only live performance was on March 3, 1979, and it is recorded on
Ernesto Juan Castellanos Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to:
* Ernesto (novel), ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975
** Ernesto (film), ''Ernesto'' (film), ...
's documentary ''Havana Jam '79''.
On March 8, 1979, the group reconvened in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to record the songs they had played live,
but a dispute broke out between Pastorius and Williams that ended the trio.
An album was released on June 26, 2007, on
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 20 ...
, containing five tracks from Havana Jam and five recorded in the studio.
''Trio of Doom'' (album)
Tracklist
# "Drum Improvisation (live)" (Tony Williams) – 2:46
# "Dark Prince (live)" (John McLaughlin) – 6:36
# "Continuum (live)" (Jaco Pastorius) – 5:11
# "Para Oriente (live)" (Tony Williams) – 5:42
# "Are You the One? Are You the One? (live)" (John McLaughlin) – 4:51
# "Dark Prince" (John McLaughlin) – 4:11
# "Continuum" (Jaco Pastorius) – 3:49
# "Para Oriente" (alternate take one) (Tony Williams) – 1:05
# "Para Oriente" (alternate take two) (Tony Williams) – 0:20
# "Para Oriente" (Tony Williams) – 5:28
Tracks 1–5 were recorded on 3 March 1979, at the Karl Marx Theater, Havana, Cuba. Tracks 6–10 were recorded on 8 March 1979, at CBS Studios, New York.
References
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Jazz fusion ensembles
American musical trios
{{US-rock-band-stub