Paul Rogers - Abbaye de l'Épau (Self-Released, 2025)

By Stef Gijssels

We're always in high expectation for a new solo release by British bassist Paul Rogers, and when we get two new albums in one year, we can only rejoyce. Not surprisingly, all his solo albums since the creation of this blog were reviewed: "Heron Moon" (1995), "Listen" (2002), "Being" (2007), "An Invitation" (2010), "This Is Where I Find Myself" (2021). Rogers has of course released many more albums with his follow countrymen Paul Dunmall, Phil Gibbs, Mark Sanders, Tony Levin, or with free jazz icons such as Ivo Perelman, Frode Gjerstad or Joe McPhee. 

Yet each solo album is a treat. The sound he produces on his custom-made seven-string bass is unique. My favourite this year is this wonderful concert in the Abbaye de l'Épeau on the outskirts of the city of Le Mans, where Rogers resides. "Founded in 1230 by Berengaria of Navarre, widow of Richard the Lionheart, it is one of the most beautiful Cistercian gems in France. It was acquired by the Department of Sarthe in 1959."

This performance ranks among his finest—grand, majestic, and magnificent. Perhaps it’s the venue, the acoustics of the room, or the presence of the audience, but everything about the sound feels perfectly aligned. His deep tones resonate and linger in the open space of the chapel. You can hear the audience itself—the occasional cough, a shifting chair—adding to a powerful sense of unity and responsiveness, of shared concentration between the artist and every listener.

I greatly admired his 2007 album Being, released on the sadly defunct Amor Fati label, and this performance reaches the same remarkable level. At times, the music recalls Bach, with repeated phrases subtly altered to avoid exact repetition; elsewhere, raw improvisation emerges, followed by passages of delicate, sensitive bowing or jazzy plucking. Despite these shifts and eclectic influences, the whole remains coherent and fluid.

The performance unfolds as a single, uninterrupted piece lasting more than fifty minutes—after all, why divide it into separate works when everything is improvised? The audience’s enthusiasm is well deserved, and they reward him with a standing ovation and a five-minute encore.

It's one of those albums that you listen to again and again. And that's a real feat for a solo bass album. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Paul Rogers – Peace And Happiness (Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2025)

Recorded by in the summer of 2023 in his garage at Le Mans, "Peace and Happiness", is a more composed, structured and controlled album, yet as virtuosic. 

Most tracks have a pre-conceived voice and structure, with recurring themes interlaced with improvisations. Despite the power of his playing, this album is more intimate, more restrained, with British folksy melodies. Some pieces sound as if they were dubbed, but that is the result of his incredible skills on the seven-string bass, including plucking the strings beyond the bridge. 

It's excellent, but my preference still goes to the live performance reviewed above. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.