recorded at Oficina Sonora, Peniche, Portugal on 18 December 2010
"It’s usually assumed that the practice of improvisation implies a
virtuosic use of the instruments involved. This is generally true,
but when a collective (i. e. equalitarian) approach
to this methodology of musical structuring in real time, virtuosism,
as a value in itself, is replaced by another much more accurate interaction. When the capacity to communicate in a band is essential
to define the music created, the mix of individual sounds is of more
importance than the individual contributions. The technical abilities
of a musician are, exclusively, of the individual order, but in this
context what matters is the group effect.
A few years ago, a German ensemble formed by virtuosic improvisers of different idiomatic origins, Zeitkratzer, decided to record a
series of pieces exchanging their usual instruments by others they
didn’t know how to control. For instance, Franz Hautzinger shows
himself playing accordion and double bass instead of his trumpet, and Ulrich Krieger chooses the violin and several percussion devices,
putting away the saxophones. The resulting music goes to what is the
most elementary in music: the integrated production/organization of
sound.
That was a very different experience than the one developed here by
Paulo Chagas, Fernando Simões, João Pedro Viegas and Miguel Mira, but knowing that Viegas’ intervention is on a soprano saxophone, here played for the very first time in his life, is a sufficient indication that, to this project, its wasn’t the proficiency in musical language that was the main driving force. This is improvisation with an attitude, and the attitude is of a stripped relationship between four human beings expressing themselves artistically, but without (as much as possible) fixed codes.
What we get is of an extreme authenticity. Everything is exposed,
in-your-face, and I must add that I prefer something like this, in all
its fragility, than the macho exhibitionism, inherited from free jazz,
which defines a good part of improvised music." - Rui Eduardo Paes
credits
released July 23, 2012
Paulo Chagas - alto sax, melodica, charamela, flutes, bass clarinet
João Pedro Viegas - soprano sax, voice
Fernando Simões - trombone, voice, objects
Miguel Mira - cello
Recorded after overcoming serious physical issues, joy and und radiate from every note of trumpeter Steph Richard's incredible new LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 23, 2024
