Touching Extremes review by Massimo Ricci

WHO TRIO – Less Is More (CF 135)
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.

Cadence Magazine review by Phillip McNally

WHO Trio – Less is More (CF 135)
The name of the Who Trio, while it clearly is made up of the band members’ initials, also seems to imply the group sound. This is not the Gerry Hemingway trio, or the Michel Wintsch trio. So even though this little collective might appear to be just another piano trio, The Who Trio is actually an extremely sensitive threesome playing mostly group improvisations. They are hearing one another and responding, intuiting directions and evolving the group’s music together. Wintsch has a very light hand on the piano, favoring few notes and slowly appregiated chords, but he has a strong single note melodic sense. What an impressive range of technique and color bassist Banz Oester brings to the trio, and always in the service of the music and the group sound. And of course Hemingway’s ability to “lift the bandstand” is well known. So “Less is More” is a sensitive recording by an amazing trio, and it leaves me wishing all collective improvisation could be this rich and coherent.
©Cadence Magazine 2009 www.cadencebuilding.com

Touching Extremes review by Massimo Ricci

WHO TRIO – Less Is More (CF 135)
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.
http://touchingextremes.blogspot.com/2009/10/who-trio-less-is-more.html

All About Jazz review by Kurt Gottschalk

WHO Trio – Less is More (CF 135)
Gerry Hemingway Quintet – Demon Chaser
Much seems to have gone down in the decade since Michel Wintsch, Gerry Hemingway and Banz Oester released Identity on Leo. That was a solid piano jazz record with hints of the quietude that was, apparently, to come. For their new release, they succeed in finding a new parcel in that melodic minimalism that has Miles Davis, Philip Glass and The Necks as its borders. The title Less is More may be a bit of a clich�, but in this case it couldn’t be truer.

The pieces (most group compositions, with two credited to Oester) work in repetition and momentum to build their dynamic, leaving enough space that every accent becomes dramatic. Oester’s bass is, necessarily and wonderfully, a solid foundation. Wintsch endlessly recreates melodies, managing quick ideas within slow progressions. Such an expanse gives Hemingway an enormous field in which to play. He is always inventive, but here he sounds as if he’s been instructed to play a solo as slow as he could. The elements come together in an odd, enormously pleasing way, with a sort of placid restlessness.

Hemingway has long been a welcome accomplice in the Amsterdam scene. The concert rendered to record on the recently reissued Demon Chaser dates back to 1993, Hemingway employing names familiar within that city’s Instant Composer’s Pool (American ex-pat saxophonist Michael Moore, trombonist Wolter Wierbos and cellist Ernst Reijseger) for the outing, bringing in bassist Mark Dresser for the other side of the rhythm section. Five of the pieces were penned by Hemingway and are played with a celebratory energy by the band. The sixth, a broad sweep of a take on “Night in Tunisia,” perhaps gives indication of the scope and assuredness with which the group plays. The theme is barely hinted at for the first half of the piece’s 12 minutes, the horns circling without striking. For the second half, they only get a little closer to the original and yet it’s always there. That feeling of collective certainty is felt just as strongly on Hemingway’s pieces, even if the themes aren’t known ahead of time to the listener. Perhaps that is something that always makes the New Dutch Swing work: as long as all the players are thinking of the same song, they don’t really have to play it. Hemingway clearly knows how to use that strength to his advantage.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34098

Tomajazz review by Pachi Tapiz

Who Trio – Less is More (CF 135)
El propio Gerry Hemingway lo comentaba en la entrevista con Rogelio Pereira publicada en el número 26 de Oro Molido: “Pienso que este CD es una auténtica obra maestra, y un cénit verdadero en la evolución de este gran trío. … Esta grabación tiene un extraordinario sentido del espacio”. La grabación en cuestión es Less Is More, publicada por Clean Feed a principios de 2009. En ella el veterano batería y percusionista aparece acompañado por el pianista Michel Wintsch y el contrabajista Bänz Oestër.

Con más de cien grabaciones publicadas, Less Is More es uno de los puntos cumbres del catálogo de Clean Feed. La música de este CD está efectivamente llena de espacios. Su inicio con los casi veinte minutos de “Inside The Glade” (compuesta por el trío) y “Still Alone” (obra del pianista Michel Wintsch) muestra dos temas de una belleza escalofriante, capaces de absorber al oyente y trasladarlo a un estado de contemplación atemporal. Por el contrario, “The Pump” es una pieza nerviosa y entrecortada que establece el contrapunto ideal entre ese inicio estático y los quince minutos de “Wedding Suite”, con un inicio lleno de tranquilidad y belleza que a su vez es extraño y turbador. Las tres piezas finales (“Stardance”, “Hasna” y la sobresaliente “The Eastern Corner”, que muestra por momentos a los tres músicos utilizando sus instrumentos de un modo poco ortodoxo), son tres muestras magníficas de trabajo en grupo, con unos temas que se van construyendo poco a poco y que están basados en la escucha atenta entre los tres músicos.

Less Is More: otra joya más a añadir al catálogo de Clean Feed.
http://www.tomajazz.com/discos/breves.php?d=2009-07-01#wt_lim

Jazz’n’More review by Jürg Solothurnmann

WHO TRIO – Less Is More (CF 135)
Note: 4

Lyrizismus mit Spannung: Freie Musik muss nicht immer heftig und auch nicht immer atonal sein. Das schweizerisch-amerikanischen WHO Trio ist schon lange dran. Alle sind mit Postbop, Rockigem und Free Jazz vertraut und können sich darauf verlassen, dass auch spontan interessante Musik entsteht. Die neueste CD thematisiert ausgeprägt Aspekte der Transparenz und Introvertiertheit, groovt aber unterschwellig oft beträchtlich. Gerade der Geniesser Bänz Oester liebt es, mal registrierte Rhythmusmuster auszukosten, während der Kammermusik-erfahrene Hemingway grosse Zurückhaltung übt. Gedudelt wird gewiss nicht und Lücken haben grosses Gewicht. Man geht eher von Satie-artiger Repetition und der balladesken Seite von Paul Bley und Jarrett aus – wenn ein Vergleich nötig ist. In den langen Improvisationen ist das Interplay zentral und der Rhythmus und die melodische Gestalt mutieren allmählich, wobei Wintsch als Kontrast vereinzelt auch abrupte Wechsel wählt und mal auf den Tasten, mal in den Saiten spielt. In „Stardance“ reduziert sich alles auf einen repetierten Klang. Eine ebenso riskante wie unspektakuläre Produktion.

Bodyspace review by Nuno Catarino

Who Trio – Less is More (CF 135)
Gerry Hemingway é um extraordinário baterista que tem desenvolvido um imenso trabalho em múltiplas frentes. Desde o quarteto de Anthony Braxton nos anos 80 (uma das suas melhores e mais estáveis formações), passando pelas colaborações com os históricos Anthony Davis, Wadada Leo Smith e George Lewis, o seu trio BassDrumBone (com Ray Anderson e Mark Helias) até aos seus próprios quartetos e quintetos – que através da Clean Feed editaram dois discos (Devils Paradise e The Whimbler) – Hemingway tem mantindo uma intensa actividade sempre em defesa da precisão e criatividade rítmica.

Com Michel Wintsch (no piano) e Bänz Oester (no contrabaixo) o baterista forma este WHO Trio, grupo que vem explorando o conceito de piano trio tradicional desde 1995. Apostando sobretudo na contenção, o grupo evita clichés e cria uma música com um alto teor de sensibilidade. Jogada em espaços de diálogo democrático, as ideias de cada músico vão surgindo, cada um contribuindo com novas soluções, numa originalidade típica da natureza da melhor música improvisada.

O piano de Wintsch não se deixa levar por caminhos óbvios, arrisca diversas vezes experimentar sem medo, mas consegue frequentemente traçar desenhos melódicos seguros. O contrabaixo de Oester vai além de marcação rítmica acertada, intervém regularmente para acrescentar cores com naturalidade. E na bateria Hemingway sabe ser sempre ponderado, ora deixando-se ofuscar para dar espaço aos colegas, ora chamando a atenção através da criação de malhas texturais marcantes.

O título diz tudo. A expressão “less is more” sintetiza a maior parte das ideias aqui exploradas, onde se opta quase sempre por seguir caminhos menos espalhafatosos mas com resultados altamente meritórios. Desenvolvido por um trio de piano que se socorre de estratégias pouco comuns, este é um disco que reflecte uma música aberta, concentrada e de uma beleza rara.
http://www.bodyspace.net/album.php?album_id=1564

Time Out Lisboa review by José Carlos Fernandes

WHO Trio – Less is More (CF 135)

“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”.

Sound + Vision review by João Lopes

Who Trio – Less is More (CF 135)

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.
http://sound–vision.blogspot.com/2009/03/who-trio-cerimonia-solene.html

Free Jazz review by Stef

WHO Trio – Less Is More (CF 135)
*****
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.
freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/