Two jazz trios headed to the Mill on Feb. 16, each with a powerhouse band leader piloting from center stage.

John Raymond and Real Feels is a jazz super trio, featuring Raymond on flugelhorn, Gilad Hekselman on guitar, and Colin Stranahan on drums.

The group opened its set with a Paul Simon cover, “I’d do it for your love.” Real Feels’ new album, *Joy Ride*, features a few covers of popular tunes.

“I had this tune in my head for a while,” Raymond said. “Then I was at a Bon Iver concert, and all of a sudden, he was playing exactly what I had in mind.”

The track turned out to be “Minnesota, WI,” featuring Hekselman on guitar. “Minnesota, WI” was the first tune during Real Feels’ set that Hekselman got to open up on guitar. He has implemented a looping pedal in his sound, and he ran away with it in Real Feels’ newest album.

The tool allows Hekselman to record live chord progressions, and solo pieces, then repeat them to give the band a full sound. His use of the looping pedal also gives the band a bass line on the low string of his guitar.

“You don’t need to replace the bass, you just need to do different things,” said Steven Grismore, a University of Iowa jazz lecturer.

The style is extremely audible in the title track of Joy Ride. “It really makes you appreciate, as a musician, how much sound they can produce with just three people,” said Blake Shaw, the frontman of Thrio, the other group at the Mill.

The use of Hekselman’s pedals forces him to remain seated during the set. It’s left to the imagination the Keith Richards struts Hekselman would display if he were relieved of his monstrous pedal board.

The crowd continually responded to Hekselman’s solos with thundering applause on “Minnesota, WI,” “En Route,” and “Follower,” and he always reciprocated with a big smile.

During Hekselman’s solos, Raymond looked on with approval. Rarely did the entire trio play together aside from the core melodies.

It repeatedly became a Stranahan-Hekselman duo when Raymond took an exit following the introductory melody.

While Raymond introduced melodies on flugelhorn, Hekselman dialed down the volume and refrained from the complex solos.

During the intro to “Be Still, My Soul,” Raymond drew the entire audience in with a solo that was only accompanied lightly by Hekselman and Stranahan.

This was a refreshing addition to the set, because the song fell between two Hekselman-heavy tunes.

Joy Ride is available on Sunnyside records.

Shaw’s trio, “Thrio,” opened for Real Feels. The band consists of Nolan Schroeder on tenor saxophone, Shaw on standup bass, and Chris Jensen on drums.

Thrio opened the set with a Jimi Hendrix cover, “Manic Depression,” featuring Schroeder on saxophone, and Shaw on vocals (the only vocals of the evening.)

Shaw thumps the bass, opposed to using a bow to make the instrument chordal. This makes Thrio special, as Schroeder explores the light chord presence given by Shaw. The band will release new music arranged equally among the three members.