Keyboardist Tony Thomas, bassist Sam Shoup, 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 worldwide 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 (for which

bassist Sam Shoup is a staff arranger), and on

literally thousands of commercial music jingles.

Their newest album together, Progreso, their second

all-original jazz release, finds the three working 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 contributing compositions that range from the

film noir atmospherics of “Melodious Funk” to the