Zig Zag Power Trio (Vernon Reid, Melvin Gibbs, Will Calhoun)

Even if you unfortunately missed Woodstock Sessions Volume 9, the incendiary debut of the almighty Zig Zag Power Trio, nearly a decade ago, you certainly know its members: the polyglot Melvin Gibbs and Living Colour aces Vernon Reid and Will Calhoun. The bassist, writer, and producer Gibbs long served as a nexus between New York’s jazz scene and downtown rock scene, interrelated enthusiasms that have spilled out through his subsequent tenures in Harriet Tubman, Rollins Band, and Defunkt. Nearly 50 years ago, Gibbs introduced longtime pal Reid to drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson; his time in Jackson’s cutting-edge Decoding Society was a clear precursor to Living Colour. And Calhoun joined Living Colour just in time for its ascent into stardom, but he has never been content to rest on that success, devoting his last quarter-century to studying the nature of drums and rhythms around the world. Power trios rarely come with pedigrees more, well, powerful.

The results are absolutely invigorating. On Woodstock Sessions, they take Junior Kimbrough’s “I Love Ya Baby” on a wild ride through Jimi Hendrix’s America, Reid making his guitar howl and cry as Calhoun and Gibbs wallop the beat. Their take on Jackson’s “Eastern Voices Western Dreams” is prismatic and gorgeous, Reid’s pristine harmonics and patient treatment of the riff shaping the horizon over the rhythm section’s solid earth. They get so savage on “Street Priest” they could make the entire No Wave scene blush, outbound enough on “Woodstock” to make your favorite jam band take note. In the years since cutting Woodstock Sessions, Zig Zag has gotten only more intense onstage, pushing this material even harder. They bring that energy to a rare set at Big Ears 2027, where Gibbs also leads a trio of other projects.