Gerry Hemingway - Biography

The trio of Michel Wintsch (Geneva, Switzerland), Baenz Oester (Berne, Switzerland) and Gerry Hemingway (New Jersey, US) began touring and recording together in 1998. Earliar, Wintsch and Hemingway first worked together in 1995 when they recorded together with cellist Martin Shuetz for Unit Records.

Chris Parker of BBC music writes "...the compositions are wholly absorbing, rousingly unpredictable, cleverly structured pieces that elicit performances of extraordinary subtlety and delicacy yet scrupiously controlled power" and Andy Hamilton of Jazz Review observes that "The result is always intriguing and often compelling, displaying a clear compositional intelligence...".

As the trio has developed it's sound and conception, a compelling evolution has developed from the diverse compositional sensibilities of all three members. What has grown from those sensibilities is an openness, a willingness to listen and dig deeply into the uncharted terrain of open improvisation. The WHO trio are now clearly three musicians whose refined listening yields an uncommon musical sensitivity, an unspoken agreement that the collective creation is priority over individual contributions, and an honesty and immediacy that engage every audience in every context.

In the course of their touring together as a trio and occassionally with larger ensemble settings, they have developed what in music is often enigmatic, a sound as a group. This sound has many characteristics, among them, a transparency that allows the more delicate and subtle details to be perceivable to every listener. They have also achieved a more elastic sensibility with rhythm that lends a fluency, tension and excitement to their powerful rhythmic interaction.

Each time they have convened for another project or tour a new quality has developed in the trio's expressive repertoire. In one instance Michel introduced a number of classic French "chansons" into the program and with this developed a deeper elemental resonance to their music as a whole. On another occasion, some of which is documented on "Sharing the Thirst", the trio deepened it's feeling for powerful grooves of every conceivable kind. It is not ununsual to hear this conventional jazz instrumentation rock like Massive Attack, cook like Fela, swing like Count Basie, and bump & grind like Buddy Guy.

All three players are very physical with their instruments and although the recordings are a good indication of what to expect, there is much more to look foward to when experiencing this trio in concert. Words though belie the sheer enjoyment this trio have brought and continue to bring to audiences worldwide.

WHO TRIO excerpts from February 8th, 2010, Cafe Wilhelmina, Eindhoven, Netherlands

new release on Clean Records (March 2009)

WHO stands for Wintsch (Michel, piano), Hemingway (Gerry, drums and percussion) and Oester (Bänz, bass). Active for over ten years under this embodiment, these artists are as distant from an ordinarily stale jazz trio as an exhausted reviewer could wish for. For starters, we find no surplus of swing in Less Is More, which makes me extremely intrigued. There’s much else to explore, though, and the musicians are not shy in attempting different routes, all leading to a single result: the expression of simple rhythmic and melodic concepts through a superior level of restrained interplay.

Either walking across intense abstraction (the impressive opening track “Inside The Glade” is, purely and simply, a masterpiece of concerned waiting and unsettled thoughts) or examining the details of metrical interlocking almost to the point of ritualism (“The Pump”, “The Eastern Corner”), WHO always manage to look unique even by maintaining the instrumental gradations virtually untouched. “Wedding Suite” may appear as a straightforward song yet it is full of dissonance – of the digestible kind - especially remarked by the ever-interesting, outside-the-canon figurations played by Wintsch, whose style is reserved and intelligently comprehensible at once, altered melodies and harmonic cleverness bathed in inspired suggestion. Banz sounds prosperous or emaciated depending on the context, the focus remaining on the sensible aspects of structural stability. Hemingway offers a great proof of sensitive drumming throughout, the subtlety of his percussive interventions during the most rarefied sections a lesson of self-discipline that many bangers should learn.

Don’t be fooled into thinking about ECM or similar comparisons: despite a graceful confidence and the total mastery of the tools at their disposal, these men’s music is a refined blend of sensitiveness and, at times, visionary drive that does not need the support of a church’s reverberation to affirm its durability in the listener’s memory.
MASSIMO RICCI posted 22:08 THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2009 Touching Extremes

Its beginning with almost the twenty minutes of “Inside The Glade” (composed by the trio) and “Still Alone” (written by pianist Michel Wintsch) shows two subjects of chilling beauty, able to absorb the listener and to transfer us to a state of eternal contemplation.

The three final pieces (“Stardance”, “Hasna” and “The Eastern Corner”, that show moments of the three musicians using their instruments in a little orthodox way, are three magnificent samples of how this trio works as a group, with subjects that are constructed little by little and that are based on deep listening between the three musicians
Tomajazz review by Pachi Tapiz (2009)

The piano trio is probably one of the most common ensembles to be heard in jazz, and truth be told, I am a little weary of them, preferring the expressiveness of a horn section. Yet once in a while, a piano trio comes forward that has something new to tell. When I listened to WHO Trio's "The Current Underneath" (Leo Records) a couple of years ago, I was immediately enchanted by the sheer musicality of the project. This one, "Less Is More", is even better. The trio consists of Michel Wintsch on piano, Gerry Hemingway on drums and Bänz Oester on bass. I have rarely come across a band who can create the perfect marriage of tension and lyricism, like this trio does. The "less is more" concept really describes the music well, there is lots of open space, but there is also tension in every note being played. Every sound is full of restraint, as if it only hints at the vast hidden world that made it possible, yet that remains unseen. Implicit music. The note that isn't played is as important as the one that is. Real beauty is revealed by suggesting it. Despite this sparsity of notes, the music itself makes sense. There is a simple beauty in it, with evolving melodic concepts, interesting compositional structures, and some extended techniques. Each piece is different, though, but all tracks fall within the same logic and supertight control. If the Japanese saying is true that beauty is "controlled passion", then this album is for sure a great example of it. 2/22/09 Stef - Free Jazz Blog

“Less Is More” (Clean Feed *****), do WHO Trio, demonstra cabalmente o que o título proclama. O pianista Michael Wintsch, o baterista Gerry Hemingway e o contrabaixista Bänz Oester (cujos apelidos formam o WHO) averiguam quais as quantidades mínimas de melodia e pulsação rítmica necessárias para manter um tema a planar. Música com a beleza e a fragilidade de gotas de orvalho numa teia de aranha, mas cuja audácia e imprevisibilidade não a deixam confundir, em momento algum, com “jazz ambiente” Time Out Lisboa review by José Carlos Fernandes.

Who Trio: cerimónia solene

Eles são [da esquerda para a direita]: Bänz Oester (baixo), Gerry Hemingway (bateria) e Michel Wintsch (piano) — suíços, o primeiro e o terceiro, americano o do meio —, e formam o Who Trio. Embora com muitas actividades repartidas pelos mais variados agrupa-mentos, o certo é que desde 1995 construíram uma intimidade musical que lhes permite lançar, agora, um prodigioso álbum que, certamente não por acaso, possui o título esclarecedor de Less Is More.
É certo que a estrutura mais clássica do trio de jazz poderia apelar a texturas mais ou menos formatadas, porventura comandadas pelo piano. Mas não: o Who Trio funciona a partir de uma democracia tonal, sempre em aberto, sempre à procura das suas próprias fronteiras, num jogo de ecos, cumplicidades e narrativas que confere a Less Is More a dimensão de uma cerimónia de minimalista solenidade. E a palavra cerimónia deverá ser entendidade nas suas significações mais radicais, incluindo a que nos remete para a contenção do sagrado - Sound + Vision review by João Lopes.

The piano jazz trio is by now a familiar form—maybe too familiar. Many are already attuned to the standards-style trio (which may also cover modern pop tunes), and the free jazz trio (which is neither tethered to melody nor anchored in jazz sensibilities. But expectations need to be set aside when WHO Trio plays. The descriptive title, Less Is More, might just bear the subtitle "any more of this might just be too much."
This trio, featuring drummer Gerry Hemingway, Swiss pianist Michel Wintsch and bassist Bänz Oester, has been making music for more than 10 years now. Although each player has multiple side projects, their work together is both remarkable and quite exceptional. This is the trio's fifth recording, following The Current Underneath (Leo Records, 2004).

The intelligence of this music is in its simplicity and interplay. Only a close working group like WHO Trio could make this coherent a statement and not get in each other's way. The music, pleasing in its simplicity, samples jazz swing but eschews its boundaries. Each player, adept at free jazz, strives to maintain the focus of each thoroughly composed track. No diddling is heard here—whether Wintsch is plucking strings inside his piano, Oester is knocking wood on his bass, or Hemingway is creating a myriad of sounds on his kit, they are contributing to the whole composition.

The closest relation to this trio might be Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, coupled with the teamwork of the Clusone Trio, and the telepathy of a classic Bill Evans recording. But unlike those bands, WHO Trio doesn't begin its exploration with covers of familiar tunes. It creates its own world, which can be beautiful and moving in ballads that combine the tension and release of jazz with the folk sensibility of a simple melody.

For all practical purposes this is a perfect recording. Mark Corroto (AAJ).

Certainly it is a jazz record, rife with beautifully studied compositions and carefully articulated improvisations; as such, it is a nocturnal, silky, wonderfully wrought piece of understated mastery. ......

….when it's the Who Trio, anything and everything is possible. Awesome Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

The trio repeatedly stretched the conventions of the modern jazz piano format to the brink of disfigurement, without crossing over into pat deconstructivist gestures. Each player exerted a determined independence in developing materials; but as in the case of Paul Bley's classic trios, there is a spaciousness immediately asserted that each player's mobility is easily incorporated into the work.

All three musicians have excellent skills: Wintsch can unleash withering unison lines that suddenly splay to create dizzying contrapuntal mazes: Oester has a deft sense of leading with a big sound and letting phrases build in its wake; and Hemingway has a seemingly bottomless reservoir of ways to shape the pulse on a second by second basis. WHO Trio provides a truly open forum for them to roam.

With beautiful melody and intricate structure, the WHO trio's album Open Songs displays the strong compositional background of the musicians. Gentle improvisations are interwoven, and there is strength and unity in the sound. Beyond the traditional method of trading solos, there's a profound communication and feeling of solidity between the three players. Although entitled Open Songs, they are not so much airy as they are tight, each sonic element connected like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. by Paula Fayerman

For the most part, Michael Wintsch’s compositions - plus a couple from drummer Gerry Hemingway - are wholly absorbing, rousingly unpredictable, cleverly structured pieces that elicit trio performances of extraordinary subtlety and delicacy yet scrupulously controlled power.

This is swing with a ring, able to pause way out on a limb before hitting a collapsable brick wall straight back into the composition. Mixing metaphors is easy in these surroundings.

Identity is persuasive, distinctive and at times striking as these musicians fuse their individual talents from a compositional and technical perspective which adds a nice touch of diversity along with a few surprises here and there. Throughout, the band state their collective identities in outward and for the most part, glistening fashion while providing the listener with captivating themes along with zealous soloing and a compelling sense of unity. A first class effort and thoroughly modernistic approach to the beloved piano trio format! Recommended...........* * * * By Glenn Astarita

WHO- Michel Wintsch/Bänz Oester/Gerry Hemingway-The Current Underneath
Leo Records LR 391

The third release "The Current Underneath" by the trio features all-star trombonist Ray Anderson, performing on the final cut titled, “Jlrai.”

Ultimately, the group uses space as an added instrument. But don’t let that fool you. The musicians do inject an abundance of pumping grooves, fiercely enacted swing motifs and finger-snapping rhythms into the grand scheme of things. Drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Banz Oester generate matters into overdrive on occasion, while pianist Michel Wintsch once again surfaces as an articulate improviser. The pianist often counterbalances a sequence of micro-themes with his left hand voicings amid swirling countercurrents and odd-metered pulses. They explore a myriad of disparate angles. Hence, the live element creates an uncanny sense of the visual, whereas the trio remains focused, yet loose. The music is characterized by a continuous and asymmetrically designed flow, while Wintsch creates a few well-placed gaps here and there. At times, fascinating and highly entertaining, the trio simply distinguishes itself in rather pronounced fashion throughout this absorbing affair. (Vigorously recommended…) Glenn Astarita Jazzreview.com

This sophomore effort by the Who Trio -- pianist Michel Wintsch with drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Bänz Oester -- is a rambling, startling exercise in textures, layered dynamics, and process. Certainly it is a jazz record, rife with beautifully studied compositions and carefully articulated improvisations; as such, it is a nocturnal, silky, wonderfully wrought piece of understated mastery. The opener, "Quartier Lointain," a collective improvisation, offers a bird's-eye view of the intimacy of these proceedings. Wintsch 's pianism shimmers around two different melodic ideas as Hemingway double-times his way into near silence, underlining only the briefest of phrases. Oester falls in on separate measures, collating his way through the harmonics. Eventually, the tension increases just enough to bring the band together in a taut percussive exchange before Wintsch brings back his skeletal melody to break it. It's stunning. On Wintsch 's "Swantra," bopped-up piano blues and swing are offered up as ghost figures for a new kind of knotty interchange as both Oester and Hemingway syncopate the already syncopated and turn harmonics around on one another in the process. The reading of "Jerusalem" here is one of the most elegant, emotionally beautiful, and challenging ever recorded. Its deep lyricism reflects the traditionally based folk melody the tune is composed on as a jazz construct, and offers the sheerest shade of the blues as an anchor to its exoticism. And so it goes -- until the last track as Ray Anderson 's trombone is added to the mix. Oester's bowed bass and Hemingway 's whispering cymbals introduce the tune. "J'Irai" seems to come from the desert itself. Its slowly unfolding melody and mode reflect the spirits of ancient musics and film noir jazz before becoming a tough, slightly out post-bop swing fest. It is arresting, deep, mysterious, and profound in its subtlety. This is a provocative way to end a recording where so much has already been introduced, but when it's the Who Trio, anything and everything is possible. Awesome. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

"Open Songs" on Altrisuoni Records released in the spring of 2002 and features a number of the trio's interpretations of French chanssons.

WHO- Michel Wintsch/Bänz Oester/Gerry Hemingway-Open Songs
Altrisuoni 108

The trio Wintsch / Hemingway / Oester proposes us a very creative music with its new album.

Original compositions are along side interpretations of songs from, among others, Gilbert Bécaud and Jacques Brel. With a lot of subtlety, these songs (these "Open Songs") actually open and become the crucible of a captivating re-invention.

The surprising interpretation of the "Plat Pays" really gives us the feeling to go across this scenery described by Brel. The sounds restitute the wide area and the magic becomes possible.

Open Songs resounds an astonishing beauty, sometimes on the verge of silence. We perceive behind these notes a voice, both strange and familiar, and a contained emotion which tears us one moment and exhilarates us the next.

Open Songs-Altrisuoni 108 Jason Bivins, Cadence

Michel Wintsch is one of the many players on the European scene who enjoys far less exposure than the rightly should. A talented pianist who straddles genres - from chamber music to free improvisation to slinky grooves or films music - in less a channel-surfing than a synthetic fashion, he's developed his own voice with this trio for several years now. His recordings are often marked more by their sense of narrative developement than their technical bravado (he's got technique, don't worry ; he just knows when and when not to use it for the sake of the music). It helps to have such a sympathetic partners in these endavors. Oester's bass playing shares many of the virtues of Hemingway's drumming : each is able to play with equal ease in idiomatic and non-idiomatic situations, providing either a highly creative texture or a very specific pulse track.

From the opening themes on this recording, it is evident that the group is exploring repetition and minimalism more than on some earlier recordings. The dedication to Tarkovski is, if anyone needed a pointer, a fair indication of Wintsch's sensibilities as improviser : he tends toward the dramatic, if not always the cinematic. The trio brings a great deal of inventiveness to the relatively simple structure of « Offret » (Oester's pizzicato meshes particularly well with Wintsch's darting play). Looking at the basic elements of the tune from different angles seems to be the order of the day. The drama is not only internal to each composition/improvisation, but is also used to structure the album as a whole. « Le plat pays » is a somber, droning piece where Wintsch's ruminations are offset against whisking percussion and delicate arco. This, along with « Ne me quittes pas » is a Jacques Brel tune - an interesting reference to set alongside Wintsch's oftnoted classical proclivities. He sounds as if he's having a ball playing someone else's tunes, as he also does on Angel Cabral's « La foule » with is very elaborate counterlines. But to me, the finest piece here, filled with thorny statements, rhythmic knots, and open gestures as well - and the hour « Et maintenant ». This last piece returns to the quasi-minimalist feel, but with a slightly more anthemic quality. As the piece progresses, Hemingway and Oester start to swing and groovr like mad, pushing Wintsch to some of his most expressive playing. While not every piece suceeds (« Isablue » for example, has a nice ambience but doesn't really go anywhere, while « 2 pm » feels like little more than a punctuation mark), this fine piano trio is to be commended for going beyond the usual parameters.

Identity is yet another fine piano trio recording brought to us by "Leo Records" featuring the expertise of pianist Michel Wintsch, bassist Ban Oester and all-world drummer-composer Gerry Hemingway. Here each musician contributes compositions that run the gamut from being tightly integrated or classically tinged such as Wintsch' "Choucas" and "Anne-Marie S" along with spotty doses of congenial swing motifs and gleaming tonal contrasts all performed via a well-mannered and orderly approach. On Hemingway's composition "NT", Wintsch displays a massive yet eloquently stated percussive attack behind the keys along with a lightning quick right hand. The Trio also explore various themes via sharp, brilliantly executed improvisation on pieces such as "Link" where Hemingway's sweeping brush-work sets an unusual pattern followed by Wintsch' circular passages. "Driving Home" is a moderate swing in the classic piano trio mold as Wintsch' employs soulful passages that may fit somewhere in between Junior Mance and Monk as Oester and Hemingway stretch out with poignant well-executed solos.