Austrian jazz pianist Walter Fischbacher, who has lived in New York for almost thirty years and remade ten songs of the legendary band into the Fischbacher Trio Plays the Beatles.
“My two older brothers and sisters were fans of the Beatles, so I grew up listening to their music,” says the pianist. “Then I looked through the entire repertoire with the question of what could be worked on in a trio – fewer songs than one might think. Songs should be flexible enough to deviate from the original arrangement.”
And they almost always do: when, for example, “Eleanor Rigby” suddenly sounds with a funky backbeat or “I Want You” spreads the feeling of drum and bass – perhaps most effectively in “Back in the USSR”, which has original backbeat. Latin arrangement awaits.
Next to Fischbacher you can hear the Czech bassist Petr Dvorsky and the German drummer Ulf Strikker. “I’ve been playing with Ulf for over ten years and I’ve been able to develop a lot of rhythmic ideas with him for this album,” says the bandleader happily. “Especially with crooked beats, I just know it works well with him.”
In March, the trio Phishbacher will embark on a major European tour of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria with a new album in their luggage.
Phishbacher Trio reimagines the Beatles to sound deeply familiar and magically fresh at the same time. Phishbacher Plays The Beatles – a pairing of perfection. With this latest offering, New York City based pianist Walter Fischbacher and his trio are coming full circle. Phishbacher’s first album in 2004, titled “Chillin”, was grounded in the classic jazz piano trio tradition, and so is this latest album, to be released in early 2023.
But as always, Phishbacher Trio is expanding the language of the piano trio with a blend of influences ranging from odd meter arrangements in the Avishai Cohen vein to latin Grooves reminiscent of Michel Camilo with a side of traditional Blues. Fischbacher’s signature reharms meanwhile add to the reimagination of each song without losing sight of the source material’s true essence.
Born and raised in Austria, Fischbacher moved to New York City in 1994. Here he studied jazz piano, performed with jazz greats such as Ravi Coltrane, Randy Brecker, George Garzone, Ingrid Jensen. He also owned a recording studio for 15 years, working as music producer, recording and mastering engineer. Clients include Jose James, Mike Stern, Junior Mance, Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez.
Now Walter Fischbacher is returning to his roots in more ways than one. Growing up with two older siblings he spent his formative years absorbing the music of the Beatles. It is only fitting that decades later he tackles their music to create a set that manages to sound deeply familiar and magically fresh at the same time. He is joined by premier Czech bassist Petr Dvorsky and German star drummer Ulf Stricker. Phishbacher Trio are masters at catapulting each piece of music into the stratosphere while simultaneously driving their rhythmic roots deep into the bedrock. Each piece is bursting with playfulness and just enough discipline to see the band slide along the edge of the abyss. It is this flirt with the desaster, this controlled madness that enlivens simple melodies and lifts Phishbacher above the masses. Phishbacher – an electrifying trio that raises jazz to cult status.
Listening to these songs I know so well interpreted in my own voice gives me joy. They are illuminated from a different angle, from my point of view, so to speak. Ulf is a longtime companion who I have recorded eight albums with. This is the first time I have brought Petr into the studio for one of my own projects, but I have played with him for more than 10 years in various formations, often backing up singers,- an interview with me said Walter Fischbacher.
The album keeps exactly what it promises and dives into the classics of the mushroom heads from “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Let It Be” to “Hey Jude” and “Back In The USSR” to “Come Together” or “Eleanor Rigby “ in a musically crafted light, which is stylistically rooted in jazz, but emotionally it should fit into almost all playfully upright genres.
The key word variety comes up here again and again, so that the Phishbacher trio can convince with the new set above all in an entertaining way and pack just as many solos into each of the ten tracks of “Plays The Beatles” that it crosses the border between mainstream jazz, bebop and the sensitivity for the rock and pop paintings of the Beatles.
It’s amazing fun to listen to “Phishbacher Trio Plays The Beatles”, and that’s not only due to the fact that we have real veterans of the jazz genre at the helm with the three main protagonists and especially in mastermind Walter Fischbacher, but especially the attentive one Everyone involved has a talent for giving the album an almost calm, completely lacking in attitude, at times even airy and relaxed, with a sniff of Latin, between aspiration and entertainment, and that’s a good thing – nice thing, this “Plays The Beatles” by the Phishbacher trio.
If you love and listen to the Beatles, you must have this CD as an alternative, we guarantee it.
1 Strawberry Fields Forever 6:00
2 Eleanor Rigby 5:42
3 Let It Be 4:59
4 Here There And Everywhere 5:03
5 Hey Jude 5:43
6 Come Together 5:47
7 Back In The USSR 4:54
8 I’ve Got A Feeling 5:32
9 I Want You 6:45
10 Blackbird 3:36
Walter Fischbacher – piano
Petr Dvorsky – bass
Ulf Stricker – drums
