In order to fill space in a trio without a chord-based instrument, you and the bass player will both need to spend a LOT of time listening to each other, and to your horn player. You are going to have to incorporate the whole kit, thinking of it as one instrument. If your sax player is playing a harsh horn part, ride on the hats with them open (like in hard rock, only swung). The sound is not stereotypical jazz, but fills space and sounds fantastic. Take your ride pattern to the toms, to the rims, whatever. Keep in mind that, unless you are doing really avant garde stuff, you will want each part to sound different, not just one crazy drum solo underneath everything the horn player does. Your bass player will also have to alter how he plays, not just doing walking lines, but playing chords, etc. It is rare that you see a horn trio (with bass and drums) where the bass player doesn't use a five or six string bass, both for extra range and for chording purposes.
Good luck. I personally think that a horn trio is the single hardest type of band to make sound good without sounding repetitive. It requires three players who all understand their instruments perfectly, and know how to get an amazing array of sounds from them. Otherwise, to the average listener, the songs begin to run together and sound the same. However, if you guys can pull it off, it will be an amazing experience for both you guys and the listeners.
Aaahhhh!! I was sort of with you, until you took a veiled swing at the avant garde kids out there: "not just one crazy drum solo underneath everything the horn player does".......
Not to get into some tirade, but: If that's all you really think about "avant garde" music/drumming, you really don't know squat...and if you're really into the music, then you need to work much much more on your ability to communicate...
The music has *NOTHING* to do with "one crazy drum solo underneath everything the horn player does" - it has ***EVERYTHING*** to do with musically responding/PROVIDING/INTERACTING with what's going on around you - just because it might not be a steady/mechanical beat, with some wonderful fills here and there - doesn't mean one has to think of it as an accompanied "solo" - that is bush-league summarian garbage... There is a difference between playing with a "solo" mentality and an "accompanying" mentality - and that's the difference.
Go ahead and listen to Rashied Ali behind Coltrane on "Interstellar Space" and then listen to a random Jo Jo Meyer (who I like) track with him playing drumNbass with other musicians, and I would say Jo Jo's playing is more "solo-esque" than what Rashied was playing. What Rashied was doing was a perfect accompanying foil to Trane's explorations. Just because it's not a steady rhythm that we all know and can play, doesn't mean it's a frickin' solo...I've heard drum solos with a rock-groove going on - what is the barrier between the two? Not a whole lot, I would say. The main point of a solo is to grab the listener's ear and keep them entertained - which is why I'm not really all about just soloing for soloing's sake when I play with my *sax trio* (which somehow manages to play at rowdy dive bars and cool secret shows and keep people entertained) because while the rest of the song is going (not just my "solo") I find ways to build and/or make-the-song-interesting/entertaining for everyone in the room (which includes the hiring and practicing with horn and bass players who have the ability to do the same thing)
- I would love to hear someone's take on Interstellar Space while they played a "less soloistic" drum part...Good luck. (and just because it's not super popular in the mainstream doesn't mean it's not an amazing piece of music/art - and if I were to pre-suppose about avant-garde's "soloistic" approach and it's lack of popularity, possibly due to that approach, I would point out something like "Moby Dick" - and how people love that drum solo - and while I'm on it... it's pretty fluff-ish, and not that impressive, and actually rather forced, and from a compositional standpoint, pretty bad/weak...)
And while I'm just going here, good job regurgitating.
The sax trio is *the* most fun musical situation for me to play in because there's so much opportunity to stretch. My usual horn guy out here in LA (need to get Travis out here!) plays tenor/alto/clarinet/bass-clarinet/flute/accordian/and-a-bunch-of-other-stuff, so I have to be on my toes with how much to provide each song (his dynamics on the bass clarinet can't follow his tenor playing, so you gotta ease up on the dynamics but NOT the intensity). By listening to more sax trios, you'll get different ideas of what you can do...here's a few:
Joe Lovano - Trio Fascination - Elvin on drums - and he helps me finally like a Joe Lovano album - something about Joe's playing has never made me crazy about him, but with Dave Holland and Elvin in tow, you can't/better-not screw it up. Amazing trio performance, and a lot of it very subdued - not any kind of "all-out" stuff - that's coming up right now:
PETER BROTZMANN - For Adolphe Sax/Live @ Nefertiti/NOTHUNG (seriously *great* live avant-sax-trio album)/and the amazing NEVER TOO LATE BUT ALWAYS TOO EARLY - seriously - this trio album features the best rhythm section walking the planet (WILLIAM PARKER/HAMID DRAKE) with Brotzmann going for broke many times and coming up always-the-winner. The album was going to be an honest tribute to one of the greatest bassists ever (PETER KOWALD!!!!) and Peter died suddenly afterward, and it's very sad.
And while I'm on that rhythmic combo of WILLIAM PARKER and HAMID DRAKE - you need to check out DANIEL CARTER on WILLIAM PARKER's album "******PAINTER'S SPRING******" - fantastic album, and anyone who needs to figure out how to play to a saxophone trio needs to listen to the *amazing* (AMAZING) Hamid Drake (or you are obsolete, in my book - it's like jazz drummers skipping over Art Blakey, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams...If you don't know who Hamid Drake is, and you think you're a jazz drummer...I feel sorry for whoever has to listen to you play).
We all love Elvin - so check out his sax trio recording "Puttin' It Together" - with Joe Farrell and Jimmy (Jimmy!) Garrison - great great great album , and one of the starting points for Elvin's Jazz Machine group. Also - hard to find (I have an old old vinyl of it, and good luck with that - I don't think it's on CD yet...but "The Ultimate Elvin Jones" is in the same company as "Puttin'" but possibly even better. (dare I say?!?!)
Sticking with Elvin, there's a great sax-trio recording of him on "YOUNGBLOOD" with George Mraz and Joshua Redman - whom I would've loved to see.
or sticking with the Redman family, maybe "MOMENTUM SPACE" with Elvin, DEWEY REDMAN, and time for bed...just fell asleep and woke back up...more trios to rec later! heck - Kenny Garrett's Triology is a sax trio that' sick!