Burgess, Mitchell & Seal is a piano, bass, and drums trio, based in central Pennsylvania, with a busy regular weekly schedule of performances centered in that area. The three musicians have been performing together since 2000. For most of his early career, Greg Burgess was mainly a blues pianist, playing most notably in the 80’s with Rochester, NY-based bluesman, Joe Beard. Burgess’s piano style is inspired by, not only the blues, but the early stride and swing pianists, the boppers of the 40’s and beyond, as well as such 60’s pianists as Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Cecil Taylor. Drummer Steve Mitchell, a Pennsylvania native, spent 35 active years in San Francisco, working in television and film, most notably for the “Peanuts” cartoons, and performing with many celebrated musicians, including Joe Henderson, Vince Guaraldi, Mose Allison, Van Morrison, and Phil Lesh; in the 70’s he won a Grammy for his studio work. Bassist Andy Seal also hails from Pennsylvania and has performed with such luminaries as T.S. Monk, David Darling, Perry Robinson, Ann Rabson, and EG Kight. For this, the trio’s fourth, recording, Burgess has written eleven compositions: three rhythm tunes, “Murrie’s Store,” “Say Not,” and “Rootch Wutz”; two blues, the Parkeresque “Bird in Hand” and the Monkish “Karoondinha”; three ballads, the Gershwinesque “Nenaoma,” the gospel-tinged “Sunday in Billtown,” and the funky “Chowchow”; a Latin tune, “Mahantango”; a faintly programmatic suite with a Sun Ra-inspired theme, “Isle of Que”; and a Mingus-like piece, “Schnitz un Knepp,” which opens up to free improvisation. The recording was made at WVIA-FM studios in Pittston, PA, and engineered and mastered by George Graham. For more information about the trio, you can visit the websites http://www.noteafternotemusic.com and http://www.gregoryburgess.com.