They may be called baseless and they may, in fact, have no bass in their trio, but the talent of The Baseless Trio is undeniable.

Made up of Gabe Perry on piano, Aiden Wilson on guitar and Dexter Sales on drums, the group is this year’s recipient of the Chuck Loeb Ensemble Scholarship and will perform at the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest.

The group first played together at Christmastime and found they had chemistry.

“We played at a church,” Wilson said. “And then we decided to do this as a group. We play great together, and we thought it would be fun to do it as a group.”

Wilson, 16 and a junior at Muhlenberg High School, has played guitar for four years and credits his love and expertise in the guitar to his teacher, Carl Zeplin.

“I started with the blues,” he said. “But my teacher, Carl Zeplin, introduced me to jazz. I had never really listened to it before.”

Now he’s hooked. He considers Zeplin his mentor, as well as guitarist Jimmy Bruno.

“I listen to him a lot,” he said.

Wilson was in 2:5:1 with Perry, and they were last year’s runner-up to So What! for the Loeb scholarship. Sales was the drummer for So What!, whose other members moved on to college, so he was looking for a new ensemble.

Sales said he’s played a few times with So What! when Noah Gibney and Esteban Ruiz were home on college breaks, but he was very happy to find a place in a new trio.

Sales, 16 and a junior at Wilson High School, said he was initially leery about playing in a group without a bassist, but thought he’d give it a try.

“I didn’t have an ensemble,” he said. “And I wanted to — and it really has worked out.”

Sales selected “Nika’s Dream” by Horace Silver as one of their two audition songs. Although usually played with a bass, Sales said he was able to replicate the sound on the drums.

“I was trying to pick a song that didn’t need a bassist,” he said, “But I realized I could replicate the bass pattern on my bass drum.”

Sales is in the thick of college decision making and wants to continue in music. He’s looking into schools such as the Manhattan School of Music and Temple University. Even Julliard is on the table.

“I really want to pursue jazz drum set performance,” he said, adding that he might minor in something like music production. “I’m excited to start applying.”

As a senior at Schuylkill Valley High School, Perry, 17, already knows he’ll be continuing his music journey at Kutztown University, likely majoring in commercial music studies.

Perry rounds out the trio on the piano, which he’s been playing since elementary school. Following an early love/hate relationship with the instrument (and practicing) his youth pastor showed him a few ways to improvise on the piano, and Perry changed his mind about the instrument and the type of music to play.

“That’s what got me,” he said.

So, it’s no surprise that he prefers jazz to other genres.

He appreciates all the different nuances of jazz.

“With jazz you can see all the different colors of music,” Perry said.

Perry suggested The Baseless Trio choose Mile Davis’s “Blue in Green” as an audition song — after he tweaked the arrangement a bit.

“It was published by Miles Davis,” he said. “Bill Evans wrote it, and he is my favorite piano player.”

Perry said he was “kind of messing around” with the piece and embellished the arrangement.

“I didn’t stray too far from the melody,” he said. “Dexter added a part to it, too.”

He said he’s not sure composing is in his future, but arranging will be as he likes to add his own flair to the music that is already there.

All three were looking forward to the awards ceremony, which was held on Thursday, where they performed and were presented with their scholarship.

“It feels great that the effort you’re putting into the instrument and then having fun but also seeing the outcome,” Wilson said. “Big thanks to RMF and Berks Arts for that. These scholarship opportunities really help to see where you can improve.”

The $750 scholarship given by the Reading Musical Foundation in conjunction with Berks Arts honors the memory of jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb, a much-beloved staple of the Berks Jazz Fest until his death in 2017.