Tone Forest

Heralded by Marlbank as “Totally Hypnotic” and “as clean and refreshing as the most unsullied mountain stream”, TONE FOREST is a groundbreaking contemporary jazz ensemble that has been delighting audiences for the past six years throughout the United States. This trio represents the fruits of decades of musical collaboration between three world-class musicians: Miro Sprague (piano), Jason Ennis (guitar), and Marty Jaffe (bass). Their music, conceived and composed specifically for this unique ensemble, fuses jazz, world music, and free improvisation to create a wholly new, genre-defying sound that is adventurous, meditative, and grounded in a deep sense of beauty and groove.

All three members met through the western Massachusetts music scene and have played with one another since the early 2000’s in various ensembles, including bands led by Sonya Kitchell, Karrin Allyson, Samirah Evans, Charles Neville, and others. Despite each member moving away from the area to live in NYC (and in Miro’s case Los Angeles) at various times, the threads of their common home and shared musical history proved fertile soil for a deeper collaboration to blossom. In November of 2018, they performed their first trio concert at the Berkshire Music School in Pittsfield, MA and immediately sensed beautiful chemistry that they wanted to pursue further. 

After several performances, the group began generating new compositions specifically for the ensemble, which further distilled the group's musical identity. A theme began to emerge in the compositions: celebrating the natural beauty of their shared home. Through compositions like A Wave Away (Ennis), Quiet Lake (Sprague), and The Mother Tree (Jaffe), the ensemble creates an atmosphere for meditation on the vitality and healing power of earth’s forests, lakes, and other essential ecosystems. As an acoustic ensemble with no drums, the trio explores spacious and atmospheric textures, featuring a beatiful sonic blend. Their sensitive interplay and simpatico communication emulates the deeply intertwined symbiotic partnerships found throughout forest ecosystems, hence the name TONE FOREST. 

Their compositions and performances are a cinematic journey through a wide range of textures, dynamics, and emotions, ranging from the most delicate moments to the most danceable as they incorporate rhythms from many different folk and world music traditions including swing, new orleans street beats, samba, baião, funk and more. 

In 2022 Tone forest recorded its debut album, self titled TONE FOREST, which it released on August 30th, 2024 on Outside In Music. The album features six never before released original compositions. TONE FOREST is thrilled to release this music to the world and hope it will lead to opportunities for a live performance near you!

Host or Publisher Bay Area Jazz & Arts, Inc