The Bobby Floyd Trio - Setting The Standards

Drew Layman
5 days ago
5 min read

One of the perils of using the album as a lens for understanding a music culture is that so many essential artists, for a variety of reasons, leave behind little or no recorded evidence. Before recording equipment became cheap and accessible, the studio was out of reach for most musicians. Others were too busy making a living—touring, gigging, playing covers—to make recording a priority. And some, like the nearly forgotten Elsie Janis, reached prominence either before or right at the dawn of recording technology. When I started scanning the list of Columbus artists I’ve written about and looking for omissions, Bobby Floyd was right at the top.

The Bobby Floyd Trio

Setting The Standards

2001

In Floyd’s case, the scarcity of recordings isn’t the result of neglect or bad luck so much as his own standards. The bad news is that there isn’t much to choose from. The good news is that you can’t really go wrong.

Known internationally as both a world‑class pianist and organist, the place to start with Floyd’s piano work is 2001’s Setting The Standards. My first instinct was to focus on his 1986 debut, Interpretations, but I quickly learned that it isn’t one of Floyd’s own favorites. “I played too much, too much showing off,” he told Columbus Monthly in 1996. “I’m more subtle now.” That perspective alone tells you a lot about who Bobby Floyd is as a musician.

Born in Marion, Ohio in 1954, Floyd moved to Columbus in 1973 and has been here ever since. His résumé is easy enough to recite: touring with Ray Charles, time with the Count Basie Band (including the Grammy‑winning Basie Swings The Blues), and countless other high‑level gigs. But Floyd has always seemed more interested in family and faith than in chasing the spotlight. When his daughter was born in 1985, he left the Basie band; Interpretations is dedicated to her. When Hank Marr died in 2004, it was Bobby Floyd who stepped into the keyboard chair for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. The through‑line is consistency, not ambition for ambition’s sake.

It’s a cliché, but Floyd is a musician’s musician. What does that actually mean? At its core, it’s about putting the music first—above wowing an audience, impressing critics, or indulging ego. It means honoring the song. Listening. Treating the other musicians onstage with respect. Complimenting rather than competing. Most players understand these ideas in theory; living them requires humility, empathy, discipline, and a level of technique that allows restraint to be a choice rather than a limitation. On Setting The Standards, every player is operating at that level, but it's Floyd leading by example.

Back cover of Bobby Floyd Setting The Standards

This is a remarkable recording of three of the finest musicians in Columbus having a genuine musical conversation. Yes, they’re playing standards, but nothing here feels rote. Each tune bears the fingerprints of the players, with improvisation that serves the moment rather than calling attention to itself. The album announces its intentions immediately with the brief “Warm‑Up.” Derek DiCenzo drops a couple of bass notes, which Floyd echoes. Tony McClung enters with his distinctly percussive, melodic approach, and the trio locks in.

The greatest musicians have a signature sound that comes from their hands rather than their gear. That’s rare enough among pianists; it’s extraordinarily rare among drummers. McClung has it. You know it’s him within a few bars. His attention to detail—down to painstaking drum tuning—is second to none. For the drum nerds: despite what’s pictured on the cover, the kit on this session is a late‑’90s maple Gretsch setup with a 14x20 kick, 8x12 rack tom, and 14x14 floor tom.

DiCenzo closes "Warm-Up" with a bowed bass before the trio settles into “Poinciana” with its Cuban‑tinged groove, the chemistry immediately apparent. McClung kicks off Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm‑A‑Ning” with a playful swing, which quickly gives way to something more serious as DiCenzo launches into fluid glissandos on the upright. Floyd’s playing throughout is melodic and thoughtful, never rushed. When Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy Mercy Mercy” begins with Floyd's gospel-tinged intro, DiCenzo switches to electric bass, and the trio leans into the tune with the relaxed assurance that only comes when a familiar song fits like a glove.

They challenge each other. They tease. They argue musically, then resolve it. "Mercy Mercy Mercy” continues to be in Floyd's repertoire. You can hear it with the current trio, featuring Reggie Jackson on drums, and with McClung, bassist Jeff Ciampa and guitarist Josh Hill in Birdshack on many Tuesday nights at Giuseppe’s in Bexley, and you should—there’s no better combination of food, music, and atmosphere in town. Birdshack isn’t your dad’s lounge act, but I digress.

Recorded and mixed by Joe “Ears” Viers at John Schwab Studio, Setting The Standards has a natural, organic sound that recalls a great ’60s jazz record, perfectly suited to the material. A vinyl reissue would be more than welcome and might shine a brighter light on this deserving session. In his original Dispatch review, Curt Schieber noted how the album reflects Floyd’s background in mainstream jazz, avant‑garde, gospel, and fusion, all without feeling stylistically scattered.

The trio really starts to stretch out on Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues,” edging into the stratosphere without losing focus and still keeping the performance around five minutes. McClung regularly explores Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s catalog with his Such Sweet Thunder project at Natalie’s, a series that’s well worth your time and money. Don’t be surprised if you spot Columbus legend Vaughn Wiester in the audience, soaking it all in.

Two versions of “Stella By Starlight” appear back‑to‑back, underscoring how this trio never approaches a tune the same way twice. “Bobby truly hears every note that everybody in the band is playing and is constantly adapting so that the music works,” DiCenzo told the Dispatch in 2009. “We’re incredibly lucky to have Bobby Floyd in Columbus, and I’m continually grateful to get to perform with him on a regular basis.”

“When I got the chance to play with Bobby Floyd,” McClung told me recently, “that left a permanent imprint, thank God, that makes you hear and play differently.”

That may be the highest compliment a musician can receive.