World Music Mix: Al-jiçç(Portugal)- EP Traveler / Rupta

‘Chants’ is Al-jiçç’s fifth album and represents a new aesthetic evolution of the band. It was composed and produced during the pandemic, with the musicians individually recording their parts.

The music started with six little themes composed on an electric piano, which served as a harmonic basis for the improvisations. These improvisations were edited and manipulated, with the mixing and post-production playing a fundamental role on the record.

Keeping the Mediterranean-inspired melodies as a brand, in ‘Chants’ these were mixed in a universe influenced by Miles Davis’ electric period (in ‘Route’), by Dub (in ‘Zadar’) or more ambient electronics ( in ‘Lost Signal’).

This record represents a new direction for Al-Jiçç, using the melodic side as a starting point for more electronic and contemporary universes.

Nuno Damião – guitar, keyboards and percussion
Gonçalo Lopes – clarinet and bass clarinet
Ricardo A. Freitas – electric bass
Jorge Lopes Trigo – percussion

Facebook Bandcamp

www.facebook.com/aljicc.lisboa

 BEST OF BANDCAMP JAZZ – January 2019 and September 2021
” The quartet Al-jiçç embrace a number of influences, (…), With slinky tempos that slide into thick grooves, the quartet (…) give the different melodic approaches a bird-of-a-feather quality. the interplay between guitar and bass clarinet , like shadowplay between the sun and shade, results in some seriously absorbing moments.” Dave Sumner

World Music Mix

WorldMusicMix: Al-jiçç (Portugal)-Album: Chants (2021)

 

Al-jiçç (Portugal)-Zadar

Composer: Al-jiçç
Album: Chants (2021)
Label: Al-jiçç
‘Chants’ is Al-jiçç’s fifth album and represents an aesthetic evolution of the band. It was composed and produced during the pandemic, with the musicians individually recording their parts.
The music started with six little themes composed on a electric piano, which served as a harmonic basis for the improvisations. These improvisations were edited and manipulated, with the mixing and post-production playing a fundamental role in the construction of the record.
Keeping the Mediterranean-inspired melodies as a brand, in ‘Chants’ these were fused in a universe influenced by Miles Davis’ electric phase (in ‘Route’), by Dub (in ‘Zadar’) or the more ambient electronics ( in ‘Lost Sign’).
This record represents a new direction for Al-Jiçç, using the melodic side as a starting point for more electronic and contemporary universes.
Website

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021

 

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021 features new jazz albums released by musicians from all over the world. So far the streaming section includes tracks from albums released by Roberto Magris(Italy) & Eric Hochberg(USA), ZhanXG(Malaysia), Igor Willcox Quartet(Brazil) , Ararur(Portugal), Sallaberry & Friends(Brazil/USA), Russell Ferrante Trio(USA), Kari Ikonen(Finland), Marc Hoffman(USA) 

http://jazzworldquest.com/showcase-2021

PORTUGAL: César Cardoso Ensemble:-“Dice of Tenors”(2020)

  This new album is the result of the intention of his mentor, César Cardoso, to seek new approaches, paths and ideas of composition and arrangement, through an extended formation. This ensemble has 8 elements, distributed by winds - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, trumpet and trombone - and rhythmic section - vibraphone, piano, double bass and drums.

Having already other projects with a quartet and a quintet and having written many arrangements for Big Band, the idea of ​​this collective arose because it is different from what he has done and above all to challenge himself to present a record with its own identity and to approach the songs with innovation and freshness.

For this album César Cardoso choose 8 songs, 6 of which are Jazz Standards made famous by some of the greatest tenor saxophonists - Hank Mobley, Benny Golson, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson -, and composed 2 original songs to complete the album.  These arrangements contain new approaches and techniques, recently studied, with the intention of creating songs as if they were new ones but at the same time without losing the essence of the originals. In addition, one of the premises was to raise the musical level through harmonic, rhythmic and metric complexity, without losing the musical side, making everything as organic as possible.

In César Cardoso’s career there are 3 albums, all with original music - “Half Step” (2010), “Bottom Shelf” (2015) and “Interchange” (2018) -, more than 100 arrangements for Orchestras and Big Bands - written mainly for the Jazz Orchestra of Leiria and for the Jazz Orchestra of Hot Clube de Portugal - plus 2 books, written in Portuguese, about Jazz Theory.

  www.cesarcardoso.com

https://www.facebook.com/cesarcvcardoso/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3bmJdnx7ehC3UbtJFXLNeD

https://www.youtube.com/user/cesarcvcardoso

 “Dice of Tenors”:

-          César Cardoso – tenor saxophone and arrangements

-          Jason Palmer – trumpet

-          Miguel Zenón – alto saxophone

-          Massimo Morganti – trombone

-          Jeffery Davis – vibraphone

-          Óscar Graça – piano

-          Demian Cabaud – double bass

-          Marcos Cavaleiro – drums

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SWITZERLAND: WHO Trio-STRELL-THE MUSIC OF BILLY STRAYHORN & DUKE ELLINGTON(Clean Feed 2020)

The collective Who Trio commemorated 20 years of existence in 2018, by starting the project “Strell”, which only now has been committed to record. This was the time considered necessary for their members to achieve the maturity of a collective language necessary to embrace the ambitious enterprise of interpreting the music of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington in a (re)creative way. The goal was to infuse this rich musical heritage with today’s musical language, exploring the compositions of both historical figures like a mighty wave that allows the trio to surf to new horizons. In this new reading, we find the centrality of the blues, so essential to these two composers, combined with the open spirit of improvisation in the best way we could hope for. Contemporary jazz with deep roots in the Strayhorn/Ellington legacy, played by one of the most inspiring musical chemistries of our time, the remarkable collective interplay of Wintsch, Hemingway & Oester, the WHO trio.

WHO Trio

Michel Wintsch  piano | Gerry Hemingway  drums, voice | Bänz Oester  bass

Clean Feed 

PORTUGAL: João Lencastre’s Communion 3-SONG(S) OF HOPE ( Clean Feed Records 2019)

João Lencastre’s Communion 3 Song(s) of Hope: Lencastre has found consummate partners in, both Sacks and Opsvik sharing his own personal characteristics in terms of elegance, subtlety and a vivid sense of drive. 

 Portuguese drummer and composer João Lencastre began his Communion project in 2005, after his first visit to New York in 2002 set the scene for developing relationships with New York musicians. There he first heard and met David Binney and in 2003 Lencastre joined Binney on stage for some Portuguese dates and in 2004 he met Jacob Sacks and Thomas Morgan, who would later join Communion, when Binney’s Quartet toured. In 2005 Communion took its first real shape with a tour featuring Phil Grenadier. Since then, Communion has had a dynamic line-up, working with João’s compositions, of Quintet, Septet, and Trio. Six albums have been released with the participation of David Binney, Thomas Morgan, Bill Carrothers, Phil Grenadier, Leo Genovese, Benny Lackner, Jacob Sacks,Eivind Opsvik, and others. (see Discography below) With Jacob Sacks and Eivind Opsvik he has created a “redux” version of the project, adapting his ideas to the piano trio format. After the Communion 3 debut album Movements in Freedom, released in late 2017 on Clean Feed, here is a second opus in Song(s) of Hope: “Cecil Taylor meets Morton Feldman meets “popish” epic themes, meets analogue synth frequency explorations.” as Lencastre himself describes. Lencastre has found consummate partners in the translation to sound of his scores, both Sacks and Opsvik sharing his own personal characteristics in terms of elegance, subtlety and a vivid sense of drive. With only these three, less is indeed more, proving that there’s beauty in economy on Song(s) of Hope.

Clean Feed Records

PORTUGAL:Jessica Pina-Essencia (2019)

Track listing: 1. Intro (1:38) 2. 1º Esquerdo (3:42) 3. Made in CV (4:34) 4. Essência (5:04) 5. Número 5 (4:36) 6. Woman's Worth (5:32) 7. Beauty (4:07) 8. Roy Allan (4:33)

PORTUGAL: Angles 9-BEYOND US(CLEAN FEED 2019)

 Johan Berthling double bass | Magnus Broo trumpet | Eirik Hegdal baritone saxophone | Goran Kajfes cornet | Martin Küchen alto – and tenor saxophones | Mattias Ståhl vibraphone | Andreas Werliin drums | Alexander Zethson piano | Mats Äleklint trombone

Wonderful news, folks: Angles 9 are back. The modus operandi is the same as ever, enabling infinite possibilities: suggestive melodies and a vibrant rhythmic pulsion. You’re familiar with it by now, but it sounds completely new and even surprising. Emotional music it is, some times joyful and exhilarating, and in other moments full of sadness and pain. As always, the compositions are simple and the improvised solos and collective passages can be complex as a mathematical equation. This is no longer the original Angles 6 plus the piano of Alexander Zethson, the cornet of Goran Kajfes and the baritone saxophone of Eirik Hegdal: the mentor of the ensemble, Martin Kuchen, gave it an identity of its own. You can root it under the influence of historical big bands like Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath (the mix between the composed and the improvised, and also the African references), Carla Bley’s Jazz Composers Orchestra (the vivacity and the ability to make sudden changes) or Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra (the political element), but with fundamental updates and additions, going from the use of the typical energy of rock to Swedish folk motives and the kind of party sense you only find in the Balkan region of Europe. This isn’t only jazz committed to make you stand and move, reminding you that, in the past, jazz was a dancing music. So lets go contemplating this world´s many dilemmas while dancing our truly own way in a listening state of stumbling bliss. CLEAN FEED 

SWITZERLAND/PORTUGAL: #jazz Matthias Spillmann Trio- Live at The Bird´s Eye Jazz Club (Clean Feed Records 2019)

Getting to the core of the matter is what drives trumpeter Matthias Spillmann and his stage companions, Andreas Lang and Moritz Baumgärtner, in this CD recorded live. And this means to find the essence of this music genre we call jazz, using the repertory of its history, namely songs written by William C. Handy (“St. Louis Blues”), Billy Strayhorn (“A Flower is a Lovesome Thing”), Ornette Coleman (“Peace” and “Una Muy Bonita”) and Joe Lovano (“Fort Worth”). Spillmann himself contributes only with one piece, “Kinderlied #1”, but not because he isn’t a remarkable composer. After all, he has composed for his long time working band MATS-UP for more than twenty years and he’s one of the score contributors – in the domains of chamber music – for the Zurich’s Ensemble fur Neue Musik. Here, he prefers the position of the arranger and the soloist. But if you understand the word “arrangement” as orchestration be aware: to arrange, in this collection of interpretations, is to keep everything raw and uncut. That’s the concept in cause: jazz as the most authentical music expression possible, without artífices and complications. The task needed instrumentalists who like to get to the point, and Spillmann found them in a Danish double bassist (Lang) known for his ability to react immediatly to any given situation and a German drummer (Baumgärtner) capable of pushing things ahead with his uncommon energy, at the same time being able to mix detailed colors and textures. Yes, the result of such endeavour takes out the breath of you. There’s indeed life for jazz after its so wrongly announced death.

Clean Feed Records

PORTUGAL/GERMANY Carlos Bica- I am The Escaped One( Clean Feed 2019) #CarlosBica #jazz #doublebass #cleanfeed

Double bassist and composer Carlos Bica has carved out a jazz niche for himself with his inventive style of lyrical-indie-jazz. Among the several musical projects he leads, his trio AZUL has become his showcase as a bass player and composer. For more than twenty years Bica’s trio AZUL with Frank Möbus and Jim Black has fascinated its listeners. Living in Berlin, Portuguese Bica again and again creates a music that seems familiar yet excitingly new and personal at the same time.
With his new album “I Am the Escaped One” in association with two of the most idiosyncratic figures of the German scene, saxophonist Daniel Erdmann and turntablist DJ Illvibe, the music goes even beyond anything he did before.
Daniel Erdmann, a major voice in the European jazz scene, has developed an unique tenor sax sound in ensembles like Das Kapital or Velvet Revolution, built on top of the jazz tradition but committed to find new paths. DJ Illvibe is and remains a sound innovator, a gold digger for the craziest sound-shreds, Vincent von Schlippenbach is DJ Illvibe and the world is a record.
If you’re searching for something different and fulfilling you found it, “I Am the Escaped One” is the perfect soundtrack for the movie that still has to be made.

Clean Feed

PORTUGAL: RICARDO TOSCANO QUARTET FEAT. JOÃO PEDRO COELHO, ROMEU TRISTÃO E JOÃO LOPES PEREIRA(CleanFeed2018)

RICARDO TOSCANO QUARTET FEAT. JOÃO PEDRO COELHO, ROMEU TRISTÃO E JOÃO LOPES PEREIRA


Ricardo Toscano Quartet
Ricardo Toscano saxofone | João Pedro Coelho piano | Romeu Tristão contrabaixo | João Lopes Pereira bateria


cleanfeed

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2018 Update: Javier Subatin – autotelic feat. João Paulo Esteves da Silva & Pedro Moreira(Portugal)

Javier Subatin – autotelic feat. João Paulo Esteves da Silva & Pedro Moreira(Portugal)- #8
Album: autotelic
Label:: Sintoma Records
CD Store
Website

Autotelic is a series of compositions in which Javier looks for places of encounter between contemporary improvisation, written music, the language of jazz and his Latin-American background.
After meeting João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Javier decided to focus the Autotelic compositions on the guitar and piano duo. Finally, this duo can become trio or quartet with the participation of invited musicians.
The central concept of this series of compositions, represented by the word autotelic, is music that has no other purpose but its own exploration and artistic achievement by the interaction between the musicians.

Javier Subatin – guitar and commposition
João Paulo Esteves da Silva – piano

Invited musicians:
Desidério Lázaro – tenor sax
André Rosinha – double bass
Diogo Alexandre – drums

PORTUGAL: Beatriz Nunes-Canto Primeiro(Sintoma Records 2018)

Contemplative songs in a crystalline voice between jazz and iberian musical heritage
Canto Primeiro is full of contemplative songs, between the Portuguese musical influence and jazz.
Canto Primeiro looks for a clean, crystalline and raw sonority.

It is not possible to separate from the singer's career the strong impact of her collaboration with Pedro Ayres Magalhães and Carlos Maria Trindade in Madredeus group as lead singer since 2011.

PORTUGAL, LISBON: The 5th European Jazz Conference 2018

The 5th European Jazz Conference will take place between 13 and 16 September 2018 at the Centro Cultural de Belém​ in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Conference will be co-organised by Europe Jazz Network, Associação Sons da Lusofonia and Centro Cultural de Belém, with the support of the Municipality of Lisbon, the Lisbon Tourism Association, the Ministry of Culture and the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

The European Jazz Conference is a leading annual gathering of professionals from the jazz sector in Europe, in particular of promoters, cultural managers, agents and national/regional support organisations. What has been the General Assembly of the Europe Jazz Network, from 2014 has been expanded and is now open as well to other professionals under the name of European Jazz Conference.

European Jazz Conference

PORTUGAL: César Cardoso-Interchange(2018)

With this new album, César Cardoso intended to create a new approach in his compositions – more complex music without losing the melodic strength, an indispensable characteristic in Jazz. A special guest in this cd: Miguel Zenón on alto saxophone.

“Interchange” is the latest release of César Cardoso, saxophonist, composer and arranger. Already with two recordings as a leader, “Half Step” (in 2010) and “Bottom Shelf” (in 2015), this new album features the same ensemble as the second CD – Bruno Santos on guitar, Demian Cabaud on double bass and André Sousa Machado on drums. But the album’s name itself reveals the growth: “Interchange” also features a groundbreaking alto saxophonist, who needs no introduction, multiple Grammy Nominee and founding member of the group SFJazz Collective, the acclaimed Miguel Zenón.
With this new album, César Cardoso intended to create a new approach in his compositions – more complex music without losing the melodic strength, an indispensable characteristic in Jazz. The essence of this musical style is also present in the band’s constant dynamics and strong chemistry, which can be heard on the 9 originals in “Interchange”, all specifically written for this quartet, as well as for the special guest Miguel Zenón.
“Modern music is, at times, associated with complicated music and difficult to hear, but for me it should be “fresh”, melodic, energetic and easily understood by the audience.”

Musicians:
- César Cardoso – tenor saxophone
- Bruno Santos – guitar
- Demian Cabaud – double bass
- André Sousa Machado – drums
Special guest:
- Miguel Zenón – alto saxophone

www.cesarcardoso.com
https://www.facebook.com/cesarcvcardoso/

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2017

The JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2017 features songs from albums released in 2017 by independent jazz and world music artists from all over the world: Matija Dedic(Croatia), Roberto Magris Sextet(Italy/USA), Sinouj(Spain), Randy McGill(USA), Diego Figueiredo(Brazil), Florin Raducanu(Romania), Stefano Travaglini(Italy), Itamar Borochov(Israel), Florian Hoefner(Canada), Antoine Fafard(UK), The Steven McGill Project(USA), Bill Mentz(USA), Leon Neal(USA), António Silva Quartet(Portugal), Hayley Lam(USA), Igor Willcox 4tet(Brazil), Daniel Chia(Singapore), Marcin Malinowski(Poland), Sweet Lu(USA), Luis Alas & La Calle Ocho Funk(USA), The Besser Three(New Zealand)

Listen at

http://jazzworldquest.com/showcase-2017

NORWAY: Aalberg | Kullhammar | Zetterber | Santos Silva-BASEMENT SESSIONS VOL.4 (THE BALI TAPES) Clean Feed 2017

Espen Aalberg  drums, percussion | Jonas Kullhammar  saxophone, flute | Torbjörn Zetterberg  bass | Susana Santos Silva  trumpet
All musicians also play gamelan

The fourth volume of the series “Basement Sessions” have again (like the previous “Vol. 3”, with Jørgen Mathisen as special guest) an addition to the trio formed by Jonas Kullhammar, Torbjorn Zetterberg and Espen Aalberg, the name of the drummer showing this time upfront because the compositions have his authorship – the extra element now is the Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, presently living in Stockholm, as the other musicians here. Once again, the “mutated hard bop” concept followed by the band is in full application, but there’s a substantial difference confirming the subtitle “The Bali Tapes”, and not only to confirm that the recording was done in Indonesia: all the musicians play gamelan instruments besides their own, and among Aalberg’s pieces one is a Javanese traditional tune. There’s no contradiction of the new proceedings with the post-Coltranean identity of the project – faithfull to the spiritual explorations put in music by the late saxophonist, what we find here is a group ritual diving deep into the inner soul of jazz and the souls of everybody involved, with a mercurian drive and a lyricism that, in the middle of all the fire going on, keeps astonishingly elegant. The Swedish scene keeps surprising us with unexpected ideas put into old formats with aspects yet to discover, and Santos Silva shows, once again, that there’s no boundaries for creativity. A must listen, must have record of the present day European jazz.
Clean Feed

PORTUGAL: António Silva New album and concert at the Ethno Jazz Festival

“Up Lift”, my third record of original compositions is already available! You can hear “Bamse in the Coconut Island”, the first single, here:

This album is the result of my experiences living in Finland, Sweden and Denmark and of course my Portuguese heritage. I recorded all this song in Denmark where I had the opportunity to play with amazing musicians:

António Silva (Portugal) – Guitar & Vocals.

Carolyn Goodwin (Ireland) – Sax, Clarinet &Vocals.

Frederik Hagner (Denmark) – Double Bass

Tobis Andeassen (Denmark) – Drums

Guests in “Bamse in the Coconut Island”:

Aaron Goldberg (USA) – Piano

Jesper Bodilsen (Denmark) – Double Bass

You can find all my albums at my website: https://www.antoniosilva.org

I'm very pleased to be playing many of this songs in Ethno Jazz Festival, the 23rd of September in Chisinau, Moldova: http://www.trigonjazz.com/f2017/

Me and Carolyn will be joined by two wonderful musicians from Sweden: Johnny Åman on the double bass and Anders Vestergård on the drums.

Also 4th of October in Portugal I'll be playing in Café Tati, Lisbon.

I hope you like the music.

Best regards, António Silva

PORTUGAL: José Lencastre Nau Quartet -Fragments of Always (2017)

José Lencastre - Alto Sax
Rodrigo Pinheiro - Piano
Hernâni Faustino - Bass
João Lencastre - Drums

FMR Records
Recorded by Luís Candeias at Timbuktu Studio, 18/12/2016
Artwork by João Pedro Lomelino

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2017 New Entries: António Silva Quartet/Hayley Lam

 

New entries

António Silva Quartet-Bamse in the Coconut Island
António Silva Quartet-Abril
CD: Up Lift
From 2014 till 2016, composer/guitarist António Silva had the opportunity to live abroad from Portugal in three different countries: Finland, Sweden and Denmark. There he met different cultures and musical traditions and played with musicians that came from all over the world.
This experience resulted in the creation of ten original compositions and the collaboration with Irish saxophonist Carolyn Goodwin to create the group António Silva Quartet.
Together they record the album “Up Lift” in 2016 with Danish musicians Frederik Hagner and Tobias Andreassen and two international renown guests: Aaron Goldberg from USA and Jesper Bodilsen from Denmark.
In 2017, to promote the release of “Up Lift”, António and Carolyn (the core of the group) play in Ethno-Jazz Festival in Moldova with bass player Johnny Åman and the drummer Anders Vestergård both from Sweden.
This is the first work that António Silva releases in his own name after his group Ararur have won the “13th Independent Music Awards” in the category of Best Jazz with Vocals Album

Hayley Lam – Being Alive
Debut EP
“Being Alive” is Hayley Lam’s latest single featuring Marko Djordjevic (hailed as a world class drummer by Modern Drummer magazine) and Akos Forgacs on the bass. Her track is also produced by the world renowned Steve Hunt (keyboardist for Allan Holdsworth).