Big Dipper is the first album released by Drop Trio

Drop Trio

Drop Trio is a jazz band from Houston, Texas, consisting of Nuje , Patrick Flanagan and Ian Varley ....

. The album debuted in 2003 and was self-released by the band. The 45 min record has been heralded by critics all around the world, and is a premier example of melodic funk jazz.

History / Premise

Drop Trio formed in 2002, and immediately recorded two demos on their own, a 5 track EP titled "Little Dipper" and the all acoustic EP "Plonk" (both now out of print). Having already recorded 2 homegrown demos, Drop Trio went into SugarHill Recording Studios

SugarHill Recording Studios

SugarHill Recording Studios is a recording studio in Houston, Texas. The studio was important in launching the careers of such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, The Big Bopper, George Jones, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Roy Head, and Freddy Fender. It is renowned for its collection of vintage regording...

 in early 2003 to record their first official record. This debut was dubbed "Big Dipper" and was produced by the band and SugarHill engineer John Griffin.

Recording session

Drop Trio recorded Big Dipper on a Saturday night / Sunday morning between 10pm and 6am at SugarHill in late winter 2003. The all night marathon session was essentially recorded live, as the band performed each song together (a recording practice especially common in jazz). The instrumentation setup was Sonor drums (Nuje Blattel), Rickenbacker bass (Nino Batista) and Rhodes piano and Roland VK-7 (Ian Varley). Varley recorded a few overdubs of organ and Rhodes piano during a subsequent session a couple of weeks later. The album's organic sound is attributed to both the band's roots-focused performance as well as the album having been recorded to 2" analog tape. (tracks were mixed and mastered digitally, however.) Further testament to the down-to-earth vision for the album, it is of note that the opening track, "Wreck of the Zephyr", is in fact the unedited first take of the song.

Reception

Big Dipper was universally praised in both jazz and jamband circles from Houston and around the United States. The same was said of their subsequent live performances. Numerous requests for the album prompted the band to distribute the record on as many internet-based, digital download distributors as quickly as possible. Printed CD copies sold out several times as the band's initial run disappeared almost immediately. Songs from the album have been used as backing tracks by several artists, including Solange Knowles

Solange Knowles

Solange Piaget Knowles , who performs under the mononym Solange, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, model, dancer, and DJ. Knowles was born and raised in Houston, Texas along with her older sister singer Beyoncé, a former member of R&B group Destiny's Child...

("Lefty's Alone") and LRJ ("Slapjack"). The same can be said for independent filmmakers, who have used songs from the record as backing music for short and feature length films. Remixes of songs from Big Dipper are still being released by Houston and international artists. It is not known how many remixes currently exist or by how many different artists.

Track listing

All tracks are credited to Varley/Blattel/Batista.

1. "Wreck of the Zephyr" – 3:40
2. "Second First" – 3:05
3. "Melody-Melody" – 5:28
4. "Wallawalla" –
5. "The Allan Smithee Show" – 4:18
6. "Invisible Pants" – 3:16
7. "Wet Dog" – 3:30
8. "Lefty's Alone" – 3:58
9. "Flux" – 2:45
10. "Abbey Rhodes" – 4:06
11. "Gin & Nothin'" – 4:11
12. "Slapjack" – 4:00