Ivo Perelman with Marc Ribot, Elliot Sharp and Joe Morris - Trifecta (Mahakala, 2026)

By Sammy Stein

Ivo Perelman has teamed up not with one, or two, but three guitarists on Trifecta. Guitarists Marc Ribot (Disc One), Elliott Sharp (Disc Two), and Joe Morris (Disc Three) pair with Perelman in a release that showcases the guitar as an instrument and the individual playing styles of each musician.

Ivo says of the recordings, “I was a guitar player ever since I was a young boy. I studied for many years, but the reason I quit was that I couldn't find a personal, differentiated, unique voice. The guitar is a difficult instrument for that purpose. It doesn't lend itself, like the saxophone, for instance, to a different way of responding to each player. With woodwind instruments, factors like embouchure, mouthpiece, lung size, and height immediately affect the sound; they are flexible and responsive to sound imagination. Whatever you think comes out, you make the sound.

The guitar, with its geometric fingerboard, can lead musicians to merely recreate patterns. Therefore, I deeply admire the musicians featured in Trifecta because I know how individual their voices are on an instrument that is otherwise often oblivious to individuality.

Because they are all so different from each other, our interaction was very different. Although it is the same instrument, each project sounds unique. It made sense to me to group them in a CD box format to offer the listener a panoramic view of contemporary guitar as played by three of its major voices.”

While one might argue with Ivo (and who does?) about the guitar being oblivious to individuality (think Sonny Sharrock, as an example), it is definitely true that each of the three guitarists featured plays in a distinctive style.

Disc One – Marc Ribot and Ivo Perelman. Track one is a gentle preamble with both players offering subtle, contrasting phrases, passing discussive musical musings back and forth. There is a sense of familiarity in the pre-emptive chord inserts of Ribot and the declarations of intent in the sax lines. Perelman is restrained and, at times, takes the tenor sax on a journey of screeches and wails, but Ribot grounds the track, maintaining the gentle pace and delicate chord placements. The track is over twelve minutes in length, during which Ribot introduces rhythm changes and punchy percussive elements, to which Perelman intuitively responds. In turn, Perelman takes the music into realms of contrapuntal changes, and Ribot reacts. Track two sees Perelman taking wild walks with airs and melodies, which Ribot echoes at times and develops at others. The final part of the track is a beautiful exchange of delicacies between the two musicians, which they, in turn, try out, and either discard or savour and develop. Track three is intense, lively, with fiery salvos passing between the musicians like hot cakes. Perelman introduces some gorgeous lower register lines in the second half, over which Ribot’s strings writhe like a cobra, creating dense, colourful phrases. Somehow, by the time the track ends, it is softer, the lines malleable, and flowing. Track four opens with a Celtic-sounding harmony which both players introduce before each diverges on a line of their own, Perelman’s tenor taking a more melodic tone, while Ribot inserts delicate chords and lines. Perelman rises into the top register, soaring and dipping back to pipping lower notes. Track five is bonkers – wholesale improvisation, with Ribot and Perelman vying for who can outwit whom. Yet there are still the intuitive reactions and challenges that make the track a standout example of communicative playing. Ribot’s mastery of styles is apparent, as he weaves seamlessly between free improvisation and snippets of different playing styles. Between them, Perelman and Ribot even go briefly into swing mode, though not for more than a few bars. Perelman’s delectation for taking a style and introducing free playing into it comes to the fore, and Ribot seems to delight in taking him up on his offer and following.

Disc Two – Elliott Sharp and Ivo Perelman. Track one is explorative, tentative almost, with Perlman initially taking the long melodic line and Sharp inserting quick, sharp chords, alongside some gentler extended ones, until the track unravels itself with both musicians diverging and coming together in a series of intricate phrases. Track two finds Perlman meandering along melodic inventions, into which eventually Sharp inserts delicate, then increasingly noisesome lines. There is a beautiful section where the melody is reversed with Sharp playing deep, resonant lines, over which Perelman flies, finding nuanced tones in the gaps of the music as only he can. Track three is delicate, each musician introducing lines of sound like threads, which weave themselves around each other to create a sonic tapestry of colourful sound waves. Track four is busy, buzzy, electronically enhanced, and atmospheric, while track five is just as atmospheric but with more guitar ‘twangs’ and warps, with Perelman retreating a little to allow the guitar to come to the fore in all its weirdness in the hands of Sharp. Sharp finds tones and nuances in the guitar with detuned strings and tightened chords that showcase the range of his instrument. Track six starts as if it is going to go into a blues number, but the two musicians quickly put a stop to that notion with a glorious development of rhythm changes and improvised lines. Sharp makes impressive use of the percussive elements of the guitar and its dexterity as an instrument. On track seven, this is demonstrated, alongside chords and singular lines that mesh and meld with the sax of Perelman intuitively.

Disc Three - Joe Morris and Ivo Perelman. On track one, the difference in the style of Morris compared to Sharp and Ribot is apparent; his guitar’s melodic voice is heard from the start. Track two is a conversation between guitar and saxophone with both musicians playing without pause, yet they intuitively diminish and crescendo in their dialogue, as each listen and responds. On track three, Morris’s guitar is busy, the notes intricately placed, and he finds ways to fill any gaps, however small, that Perelman leaves. Perelman, meanwhile, rises and falls, riffs, and meanders along musical pathways his brain creates, and his fingers bring into reality. On this track, the intuition of both musicians is palpable. Track four is a delightful back and forth between the instruments, and Morris’s responses to Perelman’s pips and riffles create the texture of this track.

Across the CDs, Perelman remains intuitive and perceptive as ever, but also adaptive, as his instincts and reactions to the guitarists vary. He is the constant in these recordings, yet there remains the steadfast dedication to musical improvisation and response to fellow musicians that Perelman has developed so well. Each guitarist brings their style and interpretation of Perelman’s unique musicality and playing characteristics.

Three individualist guitar players, paired with one of the most individual saxophone players, is, in theory, something to cherish and enjoy. In reality, it does not disappoint.