James Fernando—an endlessly inventive pianist-composer with a reputation for pairing mischief with mastery—returns with Philly 3, his sixth album overall and the first to document his working trio in full stride. The record captures Fernando at a moment of clarity and risk-taking, balancing virtuosity, humor, and a serious compositional voice that pushes the piano-trio tradition forward while keeping listeners smiling, surprised, and tapping along. The album will be released on Spring Garden Records, a boutique label run through the Community College of Philadelphia that spotlights the city’s music community while creating real-world learning opportunities for students.
The trio features Fernando on piano, Dan McCain on bass for most of the album (with Sam Harris guesting on “The Parisian” and “Like It Is”), and the incandescent drummer Kyon Williams. The band’s origin story is almost mythical in its speed: in 2023, Fernando was asked to assemble a project for a Kennedy Center performance on just three days’ notice. The three musicians met onstage that day, and the chemistry was immediate. Since then, they’ve grown into one of the most dynamic groups emerging from the region, performing at venues and universities across the country.
After five previous albums as a leader and years of touring and collaboration, Fernando felt an urgency to document this particular band. He wrote with their individual voices in mind, using the trio as a vehicle to advance ideas he’d been developing for years—metric modulation as a narrative tool, multi-section forms that unfold like short films, and a compositional language that draws as much from classical counterpoint as from bebop. The result feels both like a laboratory and a love letter: a place to test technique while honoring the stories and people that inspired the music.
“As much as I love a big, ridiculous piano flourish,” Fernando says, “I wanted this record to feel like a conversation—fun, surprising, sometimes dark, always human. I also wanted to make music that couldn’t have been written by just anyone with a jazz degree, and certainly not by an algorithm. I crave music with breadth, humor, and contradictions.”
Those contradictions are everywhere on Philly 3. Fernando’s influences are wide-ranging but never worn as costumes. Erroll Garner’s joyful swing is honored with a modernized take on “Like It Is.” The lyrical drive and harmonic daring of Oscar Peterson and Brad Mehldau inform Fernando’s phrasing, while the adventurous rhythmic language associated with Tigran Hamasyan surfaces in the album’s odd-meter turns. Still, the goal is not imitation. Fernando positions himself as a new voice in that lineage, using the piano trio as a platform to cross stylistic boundaries and connect jazz to broader cultural conversations.
Across the record, each piece feels like a small world. “Persistence” moves from bowed bass and a classically tinged piano introduction into a groove shaped by Williams’ endlessly inventive drumming, eventually opening space for a fierce, independent-handed piano solo. “Unlikely Animal Friendships” unfolds as a miniature narrative, moving from a 5/8 solo piano opening through composed counterpoint, expansive improvisation, and a deeply emotional bass solo before resolving in a triumphant reprise. “The Parisian” plays with contrast—odd meters, slap bass, and stride piano—resulting in something buoyant, swinging, and disarmingly charming, especially with Sam Harris featured on bass.
Elsewhere, Fernando tackles the relationship between humanity and technology head-on. “Singularity” begins with computer-like processing before blooming into a montuno, arguing that modern textures don’t have to be cold or inhuman. “Neon Kyon,” an ode to Williams’ radiant energy, blends bop, blues, and second-line grit into a showcase of trio telepathy. Humor runs deep on “Beings On Toast,” sparked by a family joke from Fernando’s UK roots that imagines humans themselves as the breakfast item—playful on the surface, quietly philosophical underneath. “Potions” stitches together ballad writing, quintuplet-driven modern jazz, and a djent-like finale into a single haunted arc, while “What’s The Password?” reframes bebop for 2025 through metric modulation and modern form. The album closes its circle with “Like It Is,” swinging hard as an affectionate but forward-looking nod to Erroll Garner.
Philly 3 challenges the jazz tradition to stay alive, playful, and unafraid. It presents James Fernando as both storyteller and technician, a musician capable of making audiences laugh, think, and move within the span of a single performance. More than a debut recording for the trio, the album is an invitation—to follow a band committed to craft, connection, and the kind of joyful risk-taking that keeps jazz relevant.
James Fernando and the Philly 3 will tour extensively in early 2026, with dates including Brooklyn, AZ, MD, NC, NJ, NH, NY, and beyond, highlighted by performances at venues such as Sharp 9 Gallery, The Century Room, The Mainstay, and the New York State Museum, as well as university concerts and festivals throughout the Northeast and Southwest.
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