WHO is an acronym derived from its members' last names: Michel Wintsch, piano; Banz Oester, double bass; Gerry Hemingway, drums and voice. In this release recorded live in September, 2023 they take on the challenge of adapting the music of Duke Ellington for a much-reduced instrumental palette and improvising their own variations on the material in the process.
Ellington's career spanned many decades, so there is much to choose from. The trio presents but eight of the American master's compositions, some well-known, some not: "Mood Indigo," "The Mooche," "Birmingham Breakdown," "Self Portrait of the Bean," "Wig Wise," "Angelica," "Fleurette Africaine," and "Black and Tan Fantasy." Half way through they also present a three-minute interlude of their own making. Throughout the concert the original melodies are recognizable, but rendered in a creative and unexpected fashion, with lead lines bounced around or reconfigured with many liberties taken along the way.
Most of the tunes, it should be noted, are labeled as "Reimaginations" of the original material, on all except for "Fleurette Africaine," which means they stick quite closely to the original piece's parameters (the piece was recorded on Money Jungle in a trio that included Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, a format exactly like the WHO Trio's), although there is the quirky use of a recording of Duke Ellington's voice played over the tune wherein he addresses the theme of freedom of expression.
The concert ends, appropriately, with one of Ellington's early hits, the evergreen "Black and Tan Fantasy," which always sounds like it is being created on the spot, bringing to a close an intriguing offering of music.
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