A tribute of one bass legend to another: this welcome, but all too rare, visit by Paul Rogers on bespoke 7 string bass, with Robin Fincker (saxophone, clarinet) and Fabien Duscombs (drums), celebrates the launch of their new album on Babel, based around the music of Charles Mingus. Preceded by a solo set from James Allsopp on tenor saxophone.
In 2012, Paul Rogers contacted Robin Fincker for the creation of a trio around themes by Charles Mingus played freely from improvisations. From this starting point, the trio conceived a « musical suite », performed as one long piece directly drawing from the music of the great American composer whilst being filled with the liberty-takings of European Jazz.
Whahay – an homage to the joyful exclamations dear to Mingus’ titles – was born, a trio manipulated by three actors of today’s improvised music scene, capable of combining the lyricism of the blues with noise Improv, and implacable grooves with the most exalted Free-Jazz.
During its multiple incursions in this musical « magic mirror », the trio forged its sound, its sense of narrative and found its way…
To record its first album and transcribe the energy and vast palette of timbres of the band, Whahay called upon Gerard de Haro and the Studios La Buissonne, a genuine reference in Jazz recordings in Europe and birthplace of countless landmark recordings. Paul Rogers’ hybrid double bass, a unique 7 strings instrument added by 14 sympathetic strings transforms itself successively through the music in a Baroque Viol, an African Thumb-Piano, a drone or a northern folk violin. Robin Fincker’s Saxophone and Clarinet shape the in-drought to propel the music from an « Aylerian » Pithecanthropus Erectus to a version of Reincarnation of a Lovebird with Minimal Electro-Acoustic Music colours. Fabien Duscombs’ drums announces Canon coming and summons everyone for Bird Call whilst multiplying his playgrounds, thus modulating the heartbeat of the trio.
In this music, no leader or accompanist, no conservatism or false avant-gardism, just one watchword: Whahay!