Joe Fonda (bass), Carlo Moreno (piano), Felix Lacaros Herrera (drums)

The Step in Trio is based on a long musical and human friendship between the Italian pianist Carlo Morena and the New York City based bassist Joe Fonda. They started playing together in 1990, working as a strong and creative rhythm section for some wonderful soloists like Michael Rabinowitz, Tom Varner, Greg Lyons, Laurent Filipe, Thomas Chapin, Jorge Pardo, touring all over Spain and Portugal . A few years later they started their trio project, focused on original material, That was the real beginning of the Step in adventure. They started touring Europe and USA in the early 90's, collaborating also several times with the world well known drummer Barry Altschul. As soon as the project was oriented into the trio format, they started a deep collaboration with the brilliant drummer Jeff Hirshfield, touring and recording two albums, What I'm hearing (1995) and Step in (2000) for the Belgian label De Werf. A few years later, Hirshfield was replaced on drums by George Schuller, son of the composer and musicologist Gunther Schuller. They also toured Portugal and Italy, gave many workshops together (among the others, in MIT in Boston, MA, and in Como Conservatory, Italy). The recording of two albums, A drop of water (for the German label Konnex) and As you never said before (with the Italian MusicCenter) was the peak of this musical period. The current version of the Step in Trio features nowadays the brilliant Chilean Felix Lacaros on drums. His presence gives the trio new deep colors, creating with Carlo and Joe a surprising interplay. They will tour Canada and the Eastern Coast the first ten days of March, and they will record their new music at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT. Step in Trio music is essentially based on Carlo Morena's compositions, The musical universe of the pianist is influenced by modern Jazz composers (like Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow, Don Grolnick, Vince Mendoza), European classical music, Argentinian and Brazilian music. The deep harmonic research travels together with a strong Italian melodic approach. Joe Fonda's ferocious rhythmic approach and Lacaros sophisticated and sensitive percussions are complementary and deeply supportive.