Europe Jazz Media Chart - November 2022

Jazz and Brazilian music by Felipe Salles (reeds), Chico Pinheiro (g), Tiago Costa (p), Bruno Migotto (b) and Edu Ribeiro (d) recorded in 2016. They grew up in São Paulo and reunited after 20 years. They have listened to American fusion from the 1980 onwards alongside the well-known Brazilian icons. Felipe Salles explains: —We wanted to do music that would be rooted in Brazilian music, obviously, but where you can hear everybody’s different personality. —I’ve always thought of Brazilian music as an evolving thing. I don’t like to be a purist. The idea was to use our Brazilian influences as the common core, but then everybody would bring their own personal style, thinking of this as a modern approach to Brazilian jazz. —We were sitting in a van going from gig to gig and it as like I was back in high school with those guys. Then the subject would change and we’d be talking about our kids, which is such a crazy, deep thing. Shockingly, that depth translated to the music.

The two musicians play in total mutual confidence a music made of kaleidoscopic melodic games, of call and response topics and of timbral lace. There is no equivalent in terms of harmony or color, this duo is beautifully inimitable. Far a cut above.

A thirty-six-minute carousel ride where each tour (listen) produces different sensations. And live it is guaranteed to be another gasp. Dance Dance = jazz jazz, albeit with a strong wink. (Georges Tonla Briquet)

The new wave of British jazz continues to roll, and The Comet Is Coming are among its main drivers. Primarily, of course, the indefatigable saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, for whom this is just one of the current projects. A futuristic jazz jam sessions were played together with electronic music duo Soccer96, aka synthesizer master Danalogue and drum master Betamax, and the best cuts found the place in the album. Shabaka again brings to this trio an uncontrollable energy of saxophone playing that seems to fly together with the enticing rhythms and the massive synthesis of electronic gadgets. In the third album The Comet Is Coming also has moments of relaxation, but mostly it flows forward like a massive party and proves once again that jazz is not going to disappear from the younger generation of listeners. As it was danced to jazz a century ago, it is still danced today. Only the rhythms and decorations have changed.

Actually, saxophonist Marc Mommaas, Dutch musician living in New York for decades, makes far too few records. Because if he makes one again, it is a jazz highlight in a year. The Impressionist, his latest album, is his most beautiful yet. The idea to open the musical treasure chest of the French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and to write music himself from that inspiration. It took him a total of three months to write the pieces that are now on The Impressionist in peace. With guitarist Nate Radley, pianist Gary Versace and doublebass player Jay Anderson in the band The Impressionist lets a composer and musician hear at the top of his abilities. What a blessing to hear these compositions: the rich melodies, the exquisite playing and the ingenious arrangements that Mommaas has wrapped up in eight fascinating timeless compositions touch and intrigue.

Reorded in 1977 Natureza with the brazilian songstress Joyce, mysteriously was never released and sees is light for the first time through Joe Davis Far Out label. Legendary Claus Ogerman produced, provided the arrangements and conducted the orchestra of the album. Ogerman had already played a huge role in the development and popularisation of Brazilian music in the 1960s, recording with some of the all-time greats like Jobim and João Gilberto, as well with names like Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Bill Evans. Features brazilian names as Mauricio Maestro, Nana Vasconcelos and Tutty Moreno, and some of the most in-demand players at the time including Michael & Randy Brecker, Joe Farrell, Buster Williams and Mike Maineri.