In this thesis I will describe the process of working with a piano trio. The trio consisted of Jonny Ek on piano, Uno Dvärby on bass and, me, Jakob Bylund on drums. This process included choosing musicians, studying influences, rehearsing, and the selecting and arranging songs.

 I will also reflect on my role as the drummer and band leader of the trio.

The main purpose was to investigate what happens to a trio that does not only rehearse often, but also puts in a lot of work in to studying their role models, such as Oscar Peterson trio and Ahmad Jamal trio, by listening and transcribing arrangements played by them.

 By using these methods, the trio hoped to achieve a greater understanding of what these references were actually playing, and using that knowledge to develop its own interplay, dynamics and sound. 

The impact of role models is analyzed by comparing the Oscar Peterson trio and Ahmad Jamal trio to each other, and to my own trio, finding the uniqueness of each group as well as the similarities between them. 

During this project I have learned a lot as a drummer, arranger and band leader. Because of our many rehearsals and the way we studied our role models, I have gained a deeper understanding of my tendencies when drumming. I’ve also learned that the drummer in a piano trio could determine the direction of the music with very subtle but efficient ways, and therefore has a lot of power and responsibility to take care of the music. 

As a result of using these methods the trio managed to get a deeper understanding of why its role models sounded like they did and use that information to develop in their footprints.