Keyboardist Tony Thomas, bassist John McClure,

and drummer Tom Lonardo have been playing

together since 1979. Acclaimed in the Memphis area

for their original and highly innovative jazz

compositions, the Tony Thomas Trio also garnered a

degree of world-wide fame in a previous incarnation:

the Dog Police. Their recording and video of the

same name was an MTV sensation in the 1980s.

The trio, both individually and as a unit, are among

the most esteemed musicians and in-demand

session players in the south. They’ve performed with

Diahann Carroll, Mose Allison, The Duke Ellington

Orchestra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton

Marsalis, Richard “Groove” Holmes, The Memphis

Symphony, The New York Pops Orchestra and on

literally thousands of commercial music jingles.

This album, In Memphis Live, finds the three

working together in an easygoing swing setting that

compares to classic Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk,

and Ahmad Jamal.

Despite the banner, this is a group effort, with all the

players in wonderful sync in their interpretive tributes

to Handy’s “St. Louis Blues”, Coltrane’s “Bass Blues”,

Erroll Garner’s “Misty”, Miles’s “All Blues”, and