WHO trio

Michel Wintsch/Gerry Hemingway/Baenz Oester

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

Two recordings both on Leo Records feature the trio, including "Identity" of which Chris Parker of BBC music wrote "...the compositions are wholly absorbing, rousingly unpredictable, cleverly structured pieces that elicit performances of extraordinary subtlety and delicacy yet scrupiously controlled power" as well as "Sharing the Thirst" which elicited the observation from Andy Hamilton of Jazz Review "The result is always intriguing and often compelling, displaying a clear compositional intelligence...".

As the trio has developed it's sound and conception, a progression has evolved characterized originally by the diverse compositional sensibilities of all three members. Coupled with those sensibilities is an openness, a willingness to listen and dig deeply into the uncharted terrain of open improvisation. In the course of their touring together as a trio and 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 experienced by the listener. They have also achieved a more elastic sensibility with rhythm that lends a fluency, tension and excitement to their powerful rhymic interaction.

Each time they convened for another project 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 emotional 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 many audiences.

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

and from All Music Guide

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

From All About Jazz
by Ty Cumbie

View review here

"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

Géraldine Martin-Jazzbreak.com

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.

Géraldine Martin ::june 24 2002 Jazzbreak.com

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" on Leo Records was the trio's debut cd.

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.

  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...........* * * * Glenn Astarita