"This trio is on a quest - in this case, to recover the core values of collective improvisation. They are not warriors but rather crusaders for freedom, and they understand that peace and freedom go hand in hand. "Free" improvisation or what is known as experimental music has increasingly turned into a relentless attack on the senses, while "jazz" has elevated individual displays of virtuosity. The soloist has become paramount, which is why we are more likely to hear an audience member shout, "That cat can play!" rather than to hear someone exhort, "That cat can listen!"

Book of Three brings back the art of listening, the art of silence, the art of collective improvisation, the art of slowing down. These three artists possess a musical rapport that cannot be composed. It is improvisation in its purist form - a process of listening and responding in order to produce a multilayered yet singular voice. In place of ever-thickening density, the trio prefers long, measured, shapely notes, drawn from the entire range of their instruments. Whether it's Hébert bowing in the high register (or under the bridge); Bynum pushing air rather than vibration through his horn, or Cleaver milking every rim, drum head, or the length and breadth of each cymbal, nothing is wasted."-Robin D. G. Kelley, excerpt from the liner notes

"Critics have called Taylor Ho Bynum "a young brass master and compelling composer" (Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix), "a remarkable writer, improviser and bandleader" (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com) and "one of the most exciting figures in jazz's new power generation" (Steve Dollar, Time Out Chicago). "Over the past decade," wrote Kevin Le Gendre in Jazzwise, "Bynum has shown himself to be a worthy addition to the canon of maverick trumpeters that includes such illustrious names as Wadada Leo Smith, Ron Miles, Cuong Vu and Arve Henrikson." The Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak adds, "Taylor Ho Bynum cemented his reputation as one of the most compelling and progressive trumpeters and bandleaders currently active, at home in every corner of the creative-music map."

Bynum's expansive resume includes collaborations with both his contemporaries and legendary figures alike, most notably the iconic saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, with whom he has performed and recorded extensively over the past decade. His most recent releases as a leader/co-leader include Tomas Fujiwara & Taylor Ho Bynum's Stepwise (NotTwo Records), Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings' Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12 Records), Positive Catastrophe's Garabatos Volume One (Cuneiform Records), The Thirteenth Assembly's (un)sentimental (Important Records), and the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet's Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths. The debut CD of the collaborative trio Book of Three (with Gerald Cleaver and John Hébert) will be released on RogueArt in the fall of 2010. He is also a member of such groups as The Convergence Quartet, Jason Kao Hwang's Edge, Myra Melford's Happy Whistlings, the Tyshawn Sorey Quartet and the large ensembles of Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor. In addition, he is a curator and vice president of Dave Douglas' Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music), a partner in Firehouse 12 Records, and the president of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation."-Rouge Art