Between September 18 and September 23 in 2023, drummer Bill Stewart convened bassist Larry Grenadier and tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III for their third weeklong trio engagement at the Village Vanguard, following residencies in April 2017 and in October 2018. The latter engagement transpired around the trio’s first album, Band Menu, a studio date that marked Stewart’s first leader endeavor without a chordal instrument. “I wanted to work with the open sound of the tenor trio. Not having a piano or guitar gives me the option to fill up more space with the drums or allow more space in the music. I was also thinking of the famous tenor-bass-drums recordings by Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson at the Vanguard. So I felt it was time to document the trio playing in the room.”