Drop Trio is a jazz band from Houston, Texas, consisting of Michael "Nuje" Blattel (drums and percussion), Patrick Flanagan (bass guitar), and Ian Varley (keyboards).
Following Batista's departure, Varley and Blattel called on friend and Houston guitarist Marc Reczek to join the band on bass.
In late 2003, Drop Trio was approached by Solange Knowles after she witnessed their performance at Cactus Music, a record store in Houston.
[5] While the soundtrack sold less than anticipated, fans of Solange Knowles have praised "Freedom" and posted videos for the track on YouTube.
[6] In 2004, Houston-based rapper LRJ recorded "The Ol' Hood" which featured an unedited version of "Slapjack" from Big Dipper as its backing track.
[7] While the band expertly, albeit loosely, writes and performs jazz-based material with a strong funk/rhythmic groove, they are influenced by a wide variety of genres and artists.
), meandering epic-length compositions, and classical-derived, non-repeating song arrangements have become more and more commonplace in Drop Trio's repertoire as the band has evolved.
An early example of this is "Flux" from Big Dipper, a Robert Fripp influenced track which was written almost exclusively as a study into multimeter funk grooves, replete with angular riffing and an almost clinically complex arrangement.