Paddy Fitzgerald grew up on the east coast of Australia, “pretty much in the middle of nowhere,” with no scene, no jam sessions and no local heroes, just his dad’s record collection and the sound of the forest. Oscar Peterson Trio, Billie Holiday, Frank Zappa and Tom Waits inside the house; lyrebirds and cuckoos outside.

He started on piano as a kid, picked up double bass at sixteen and moved to Melbourne at eighteen to study and throw himself into the city’s jazz circuit. Under the wing of bassist Sam Anning, fresh back from New York, he learned the hustle: a lot of gigs, not much money, and a deep education in being the bass player everyone calls.

Europe came next. Fitzgerald relocated to Basel to study with some of his heroes, including Larry Grenadier, Petter Eldh and Jeff Ballard, and ended up staying. He finished his master’s degree and went straight into a second course in music production and mixing.

The quiet sideman who once wanted to hide at the back of the stage is now obsessed with writing, recording and sculpting his own sound. The double bass is still at the centre, but the studio has become an instrument in itself.