Equal Interest was a collaborative trio featuring pianist Myra Melford and the AACM's Joseph Jarman and Leroy Jenkins. Drawing not only on their respective pasts in free and avant-garde jazz, but also somewhat upon world, blues, and classical music, the trio came together for a few small North American tours and festival appearances in the late '90s. The three musicians were all highly respected as innovative jazz musicians and improvisers. Joseph Jarman was a multi-instrumentalist, saxophonist, and co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago who had performed on over 50 albums, including his own sessions for Delmark and Music Arts, among others. Violinist (and sometimes cellist) Leroy Jenkins had been a vibrant player in creative music since the 1960s, with a number of albums on several labels, including Black Saint. Myra Melford (who also played harmonium) had been active since the 1980s, recording albums for the Enemy, Hat, and Arabesque labels, among others, and leading a number of ensembles (she had first recorded with Jenkins on his 1992 release Themes Improvisations on the Blues). Jarman, Jenkins, and Melford first recorded together on a 1997 date co-led by Jenkins and Jarman, Out of the Mist. The trio's first release as Equal Interest came out in 1999, entitled simply Equal Interest. They performed at Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival that year, and on BBC Radio and at Canada's Guelph Jazz Festival in 2000. Violinist Jenkins died in 2007. ~ Joslyn Layne, Rovi