THE TRIPLE-HORNED dinosaur Triceratops is also the name of a three-horn quintet led by 42-year-old Chicago trombonist John Yao.

First inspired by the trombone artistry of JJ Johnson, Frank Rosolino and Fred Wesley, after graduating from Indiana State University Yao played  trombone in the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Triceratops is a very different proposition. “The alto/soprano sax, tenor sax and trombone formation allowed me to get a big sound with just three horns,” he says. “Altoist Billy Drewes inspires me with his freewheeling, open approach, while tenorist John Irabagon is such a creative musician who structures his solos with an unlimited vocabulary.

“His dark and edgy sound is a contrast to Billy’s light and fluffy timbre, with my tone somewhere in the middle.”

Their debut album How We Do, with Peter Brendler’s bass and Mark Ferber’s drums, includes seven Yao compositions. It shows the influences of Dave Holland’s early groups, with elements of Charles Mingus’s collective improvisation.

“I wanted to develop creative forms and structures similar to the ways of big band composers, but in this smaller group setting,” Yao explains.

Drewes’s weaving solo is at the visceral heart of opener Three Parts as One, while the earthy Triceratops Blues unleashes Yao’s brilliant slidework, at times creamy, at other times full of knots and complex designs, accompanied by Ferber’s magical drumming.

The title track features Brendler’s tunnelling bass and an enigmatic horn trio colloquy, while the visual harmonies of sunset inspire the sonic images of colour and mood in The Golden Hour.

On Doin’ the Thing, Irabagon is full of invention and fire, spurring Yao on to another potent chorus. But, yet again, it is the communal sound that stays with you.

That togetherness is significant at a time when music and musicians are tasked with resisting the mounting racism and populism across the US.

“From white musicians in blackface to black musicians not allowed in the same hotels as whites and making less money, racism has followed jazz throughout its history,” Yao says.

“But as people who expressed themselves as freely as they could, jazz musicians resisted racism and authoritarianism by virtue of what they played.

“Like the musicians before us, we have to continue to express ourselves as freely as we can and push the boundaries of what that freedom is, and to bring new ideas and affect political, cultural and civilised change.”

That sense of change is musically explicit in How We Do, together with an inspiring sense of fraternity and beauty that runs through the album. Let’s hope that we see Triceratops stalking the streets of Britain soon with all three horns gleaming and resonating.

How We Do is released on See Tao Recordings.