Freesome
The earliest traces of Freesome can be found in a 1995 recording by guitarist Peter Kienle, bassist Dave Bruker and drummer Pete McKahnn. Bruker and McKahnn were the rhythm section of a well-known local group called the Jazz Dads. Both, a subset of BeebleBrox and the Jazz Dads were rotating through a weekly gig at a place called the Encore Cafe. Musicians in both bands were routinely subbing for each other. Later that same year the original trio performed on a live radio show at Bloomington’s WFHB. The repertoire was a mixture of a few standards and some Bruker and Kienle originals.
After Pete McKahnn moved away from Bloomington, drummer Danny Deckard joined the trio in 1997. They recorded two of Bruker’s originals which were released on the 1997 Jazz from Bloomington CD. May 1998 saw the release of the first official recording “Jazz Guitar Trio“, featuring new bassist Jack Helsley along with Peter and Danny.
Starting in August 1999 Freesome started a furious string of local and regional gigs, building a large repertoire of originals. Their unusually numerous followers can be attributed to tireless promotion and propaganda by the band’s biggest fan Andy Durta (and probably also to bassist Jack Helsley’s bottomless bag of jokes).
The trio operated until 2006 and recorded three more albums: