Joe Policastro Trio

• Joe Policastro, bass
• Dave Miller, guitar
• Mikel Avery, drums

Hailed by Downbeat for its “deft analysis of choice repertoire,” and by the Chicago Reader for its “diversity of approaches to all kinds of source material,” the JOE POLICASTRO TRIO is a forward-thinking, Chicago-based jazz trio led by bassist Joe Policastro featuring guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery. While firmly rooted in jazz, the band’s open-minded, inclusive nature draws upon a wide array of musical styles and sources while still keeping the aesthetic of an acoustic trio intact.

The band recently released its seventh album, Mending Wall. Through highly personal readings of music from Italy and Hong Kong, movie scores and symphonic themes, pop tunes, and even a cowboy song written by a Russian classical composer, the trio explores the nature of identity, boundaries, and borders. Their diverse catalog – Ceremony (2023), Sounds Unheard (2022), Nothing Here Belongs (2019), Screen Sounds (2017), POPS! (2016), and West Side Story Suite (2013) – captures the band’s progressive, forward-thinking, non-hierarchical approach whether showcasing their original music or their ability to remake unlikely songs in a characteristically raw, idiosyncratic fashion.