A follow-up to their 2020 debut Inside the Grief—which responded powerfully to the overlapping crises of that year—this new album draws its energy from the trio’s earliest days, playing for parkgoers in pandemic-era New York.

Born in a moment of global disruption, incognito ergo sum strips away stylistic borders in favor of shared human expression, drawing on bebop, free jazz, rock, and Venezuelan folk traditions to craft a sound that is both defiant and deeply connected.

True to its title, incognito ergo sum (“I am incognito, therefore I am”) celebrates artistic anonymity and collective intention. Early performances saw the group playing under the radar, with Bixler inviting musicians to join without name recognition—an effort to shift the focus from ego to music-making itself. That ethos shines through on this record: conversational, unbound, and driven by curiosity over category.

Across the album’s original compositions, the trio moves with instinct and cohesion—melding intricate rhythmic ideas with moments of stillness, density with clarity. It’s a sound as rooted in downtown NYC improvisation as it is in South American traditions or the post-bop lineage. 

Long a staple of the New York scene, David Bixler’s career spans decades of performance and recording, including work with Lionel Hampton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and a Latin GRAMMY-winning tenure with the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Big Band. His recent output—including In the Face of Chaos, BEATitude, Blended Lineage, and The Langston Hughes Project Vol. 1—marks a bold and personal resurgence after a period of hiatus.

With incognito ergo sum, he offers a powerful artistic statement: a genre-fluid, deeply human album born from upheaval and carried forward by trust, freedom, and collective sound.

The trio will be celebrating the release at their CD launch on July 24th at DROM on 85 Ave A NYC.