Flourish — Ball | Hanlon | Schulz
Newmarket Studios December 2025
ALBUM REVIEW
It’s unusual, but not unprecedented to unite trumpet, double bass and accordion in a trio, but hardly surprising that it works so well given the instrumental textures that these longtime collaborators and disparately experienced musicians were able to bring to the studio in late 2025.
Eugene Ball on trumpet, Ben Hanlon on double bass and Anthony Schulz (now residing in Canada) on piano accordion demonstrate mutual respect and joy in this recording, while drawing on their finely honed experiences of folk to early jazz and classical music. Flourish celebrates and fully explores the range each instrument offers, individually or in duo and trio syntheses. The result is a sonic feast.
In the opening track Fred la Marmotte (Schulz) – named for a weather-predicting groundhog in Quebec – Ball’s horn dances lightly with Schulz’s jaunty accordion, grounded by Hanlon’s resonant bowed bass. In the beautifully rendered Resigned (Ball), subtly bending horn notes muse and soar above a quiet conversation between bass and accordion in a piece that seems to invoke sadness.
Hanlon’s A2 Brute has it all – soliloquy snapping sharply into Fargo-like drama, then a fine filigree of upper register horn notes, the gentle invitation of gypsy swing over determined bass, and a rumination blending strings and keys. It’s a delight.
A highlight on the album is Prelude, in which writer Arnold Zable, over minimal accompaniment, reads excerpts from his story The Watermill about experiences in China. The following track, Watermill, is a nuanced, evocative musical response reflecting the steady beat of the watermill and the unspoken communication between Zable and the miller over many afternoon visits.
In this recording Ball, Hanlon and Schulz have demonstrated how effectively and imaginatively trumpet, double bass and piano accordion can work in a trio.
ROGER MITCHELL
Album launch at Izakaya by Tamura, 343 Smith Street, Fitzroy on Monday 12 October from 6pm.