Jazz trio

As early as 1935, Benny Goodman recorded in a trio format, featuring himself (clarinet), Teddy Wilson (piano) and Gene Krupa (drums).

In 1949, Red Norvo formed a trio consisting of himself on vibraphone, plus guitar and bass; the best-known line-up featured Tal Farlow and a young Charles Mingus.

In 1957, saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded the album Way Out West with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne. Players who used this piano-less format in the 1960s include Ornette Coleman (with David Izenzon and Charles Moffett); Albert Ayler (with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray) and Peter Brötzmann (with Peter Kowald and Sven-Ake Johansson).

Jimmy Giuffre's 1958 trio had the highly unusual instrumentation of Giuffre (saxophone and clarinet), Jim Hall (guitar) and Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, dispensing with a conventional rhythm section.

The early-80's group Codona had a line-up of Don Cherry (trumpet) and two percussionists, Collin Walcott and Nana Vasconcelos.

The British free jazz group TrioVD comprises Christophe de Bezenac (saxophone), Chris Sharkey (guitar) and Chris Bussey (drums).