Garage A Trois

Garage A Trois functions as a daring improvisational unit celebrated for blending exploratory jazz with electric funk grooves and avant-garde rock textures. Guitarist Charlie Hunter, saxophonist Skerik, and drummer Stanton Moore anchored the original lineup that generated early excitement through the 1999 EP Mysteryfunk. Their evolving approach later incorporated dark-toned psych-funk alongside atmospheric jazz on the 2003 album Emphasizer, which featured percussionist Mike Dillon, and on 2009’s Power Patriot, which included keyboardist Marco Benevento. The founding trio reconvened in 2021 to issue Calm Down Cologne.

The project originated in 1999 as a side effort born from sessions for Stanton Moore’s All Kooked Out!, where the shared rapport among Moore, Hunter, and Skerik quickly produced the darkly atmospheric Mysteryfunk EP. Pressed exclusively on vinyl at first, the release initially appeared destined to remain a solitary statement. Their first full-length album, Emphasizer, arrived in 2003 and added vibraphonist and percussionist Mike Dillon while Skerik doubled on keyboards.

The same personnel followed with the entirely acoustic live album Outre Mer in 2005, framed as a potential soundtrack for an unreleased film of the same name by French director Klaus Tontine. Power Patriot appeared in 2009 with Marco Benevento replacing Charlie Hunter on keyboards; Benevento also participated on the 2011 release Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil.

Following a four-year break, Hunter, Moore, and Skerik regrouped for concerts and tracked new material at Stone Gossard’s Studio Litho in Seattle. The resulting Calm Down Cologne surfaced in April 2021, restoring the trio’s focus on stripped-down, groove-based funk and avant-garde jazz.