Whahay

A new trio led by bassist Paul Rogers pays homage to the great Charlie Mingus in a set of gripping, expansive takes on some of Mingus's best known compositions. Charles Mingus needs no introduction. His influence is inescapable. Though there have been many tributes to the man, most have concentrated on reframing and rearranging his compositions or attempting more straight ahead homages. Whahay is a different proposition. Bassist Paul Rogers, saxophonist Robin Fincker and drummer Fabien Duscombs take nine of the best known Mingus tunes and use them as a springboards for a kaleidoscopic, freewheeling set of improations. You've probably never heard Mingus tunes played quite like this. The opening 'Better Git In Your Soul' has Rogers doubling the melody line with the bow, alongside Financier's sprightly clarinet and skittish drums. As Fincker reaches for the tenor, Rogers switches to pizzicato, joining Duscombs in providing a fractured but foppish undertow that hints at swing but never quite gets there. Fincker's thoughtful dissection of the melodic line is occasionally reminiscent of Wayne Shorter. There's a clarity to his playing as well as emotional engagement, even when things get heated. A hushed, almost ambient take on 'Ecclusiastics' opens with Rogers demonstrating the range of his specially constructed bass. Equipped with 7 principal strings and a large number of sympathetic resonating strings, it can wander easily into territory usually occupied by cello or even viola. The resonating strings give the instrument a spectral, folky quality when required, but it's still able to provide a sweetly propulsive throb from its bottom end. This is showcased effectively in Rogers' beautifully dirty intro to 'Jump Monk'. Switching through a variety of tempi and into entirely free and solo passages, this is the tune that probably gets closest to actually sounding something like a Mingus arrangement, and it's a genuinely thrilling, tightly executed performance.