Robin Fincker – tenor saxophone
Mathieu Werchowski – violin
Pascal Niggenkemper – bass
Fabien Duscombs – drums
Robin Fincker has a knack for crossing his French roots with his love of the scene here in London, where he was based for many years as a founder of the Loop Collective. Now one of the leading in-demand players in France, with bands such as The Mediums and as a member of the Orchestre National de Jazz, his latest visit to London is to launch a new album on London’s Babel Label. An imaginative reworking of folk songs, as seen from across the Channel! Melodies are caught in mid-air. These tunes that one hums without realising, that feel familiar without being able to point their source, find themselves out of their original context, superposed or extended, declaimed or only suggested, sometimes buried under a storm of concrete-noise music or distilled in a minimalist blow. The quartet’s “Tribute to an Imaginary Folk Band” combines the illuminated blues of John Fahey with the lyrical flights of traditional Irish folk music, the intense sobriety of guitarist Bert Jansch and the richness of free improvisation; thus creating an imaginary cross-road of these different musical essences.