Band lets diversity strike a chord

The trio will launch a tour next year in support of the new album.

"This album would be less jazz and more fusion but it depends on your own interpretation and perspective. There are definitely a lot of spaces for improvisation in Lawrence's music," McBride says. The drummer is from Australia and lived in Shanghai from 2002 to 2020. Now, he lives in Taipei. McBride contributed one original track in the new album, titled Tamarama, named after Tamarama Beach, located in eastern Sydney, Australia. McBride describes Tamarama as "one of my favorite places on the planet", the song was inspired by the music bars along the beach that play reggae all day long. "The reggae chill groove seemed to suit the current sound and vibe of the band," McBride says.

"The name of this album is indicative of our own musical evolutionary journey. I feel as musicians we have more clarity about who we are musically now than 15 years ago so I guess you could say Clarityis a culmination of the band's previous work and our own experience as musicians until now," he adds.

Ku has been playing in trio format since his early days in Beijing in the late 90's and there have been many versions of this band. For McBride, who first played with Ku at a jam session in Beijing on his first trip to China in 1998, the current sound of the trio has emerged naturally and "this music is the result of Lawrence's personal performance experience. He's reaching a new audience," McBride says.