Pedro Bermudez – No Limits (Self Produced – 2010)

The energy contained in the body and soul of pianist Pedro Bermudez far exceeds that which may normally be given mere mortals. For his hands and arms are infused with a surfeit of tumbao. In his heart, the echoes of the timbales and the congas bounce excitedly against every internal surface. It is this incredible treasure of rhythm that flavours what he expends through his fingers on the ivories. More importantly, it is this that provides impetus for him to expand his energy like the ripples in a still sea that he plunges into with all the incredible weight of his skills in every aspect of Afro-Caribbean music. This is why his energy is so infectious and cannot be contained in a smaller ensemble, especially not on No Limits, an album that sits somewhere between the Atlantic islands of Puerto Rico and the deepest part of the Caribbean, in the eye of the Afro-Caribbean Hurricane of sorts, so to speak.

Although his proclivities tend more towards urban jazz with a Latin tinge, Bermudez has too much tumbao in his heart and hands to pass up on the Latin idioms and forms altogether. However, in the context of the larger ensemble, this rather tends to be buried and will only come to the fore on charts where his piano is sparingly accompanied by a thick layer of percussion, such as on songs like “El Jarriero” where Richie Flores and Vince Cherico provide that thunderous bed of ritmo, or in “Bombaião” where the exuberant percussion of Duduka Da Fonseca creates dancing rhythms from the Northeast of Brasil. It is then that Bermudez lets it all hang out and appears to fall prey to the charms of his alter ego—that one that lets all control go and when tumbao sets in.

But there is something to be said of Bermudez’s imbibing of the whole of the Afro-Caribbean culture. An example of this is how comfortably he sits in the Amazonian splendour of “Bombaião” or even the urbane carioca rhythms of Jobim’s “Caminhos Cruzados” or how authentic is the rhythmic and melodic sleight of hand on the magnificent choro, “Chorinho para María.”

There are echoes of joropos elsewhere and frequent trips to the floor swinging with the cha-cha and the rumba, but it is eventually Bermudez’s constant pushing of the envelope that seems to win in the end. After all, this is all about finding freedom in the absence of limits. There is rare challenge and flying free in these charts, most of all in the title track, where it all comes together—the Afro-Caribbean sensibility with the fluttering soul, flying free, dancing to the idiom of jazz. This is unmistakable in “No Limits” and “Long Walk” and it is more than gratifying to hear such a talented pianist breaking free of it all.

Tracks: Yubá a Santurce; La Número Seite; El Jarriero; ALC; The Dreamer; Bombaião; Redentor; Chorinho para María; Iván’s Cha; Caminhos Cruzados; Offbeat; No Limits; Long Walk.

Personnel: Pedro Bermudez: piano, Fender Rhodes; Eddie Gomez: acoustic bass (5, 10, 12); Ruben Rodriguez: bass (3, 4, 13); Duduka Da Fonseca: drums, percussion (6, 8); Ivan Renta: tenor and soprano saxophones (1 – 4, 9, 11, 13); Nelson Jaime “Gazu”: trumpet (1, 3, 4, 13); Ritchie Flores (congas (3, 7, 11); Vince Cherico: drums (3, 4, 13); Diego Lopez: drums (1, 2, 9); Cristian Rivera: congas (2, 9); Carli McDonaldo: timbal (9), congas (1, 4, 13); Efrain Martinez: drums (4, 7, 10 – 12); Gabriel Rodriguez: bass (7, 11); Felipe Salles: soprano saxophone (6 – 8); Oscar Stagnaro: electric bass (1, 2, 6, 8, 9); Mike Arroyo: acoustic/electric guitars (2, 8, 10); David “Piro” Rodriguez: trumpet (11); Ana Baiana: vocals (10).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Pedro Bermudez on the web: www.pedrobermudezpiano.com

Review written by: Raul da Gama

Emilio Teubal and La Balteuband – Un Monton de Notas (2009)

The spectacular collision of cultures raining down of music in the Latin idiom has brought with it a proverbial deluge of the most wonderful shower of metaphor and idiom, melody and rhythm and harmonics of a tantalizingly high order. This fine record Un Monton de Notas (Not Yet Records) by Emilio Teubal and his grupo projecto, La Balteuband is another fine example. Here is a nonet led by the Spanish-born Argentenian pianist and composer that has literally opened the mystical gates of oceans of music in a record that describes a courageous musical journey. It crosses continents, leaps out of Cordoba, Spain, dives into the heartland of Argentina, then emerges from the deep and dense recesses of the Brasilian Northeast in an explosion of propulsive dynamic energy, and takes off into interstellar space.

There is not enough space here to discuss how this happens in music, repeatedly; it is a matter of fact now. The real trick is to shut the eyes and give into the music, body and soul. The music of this nonet is so seductive that it is impossible not to be drawn into this world and virtually hypnotised. Teubal is a gifted musician and composer and has an inner ear that is sharp and intelligent. He hears music differently. Much of this lies in a multiplicity of tonal densities of various woodwinds and horns – ranging from the flute and soprano saxophone to the bass clarinet. This approach appears to superceed everything and his music is presented with the richly woven voices of these lead instruments.

Sometimes he will poke through with the piano or Rhodes to assert a certain rhythmic harmony. His use of the cello is inspired and on “Un Monton de Notas,” this wonderful instrument is played with equal virtuosity by Greg Heffernan. This track is stellar, a complex blend of maracatu rhythms that conjour a feverish ritual that is showered with melodic ingenuity. There is rarely such excitement in a song and such propulsive rhythm. It is possible – very possible that only Egberto Gismonti’s majestic compositions could have inspired such a richly textured piece.

However, there is much more to recommend this record as one of the year’s finest. “Ping Pong,” opens with a rhythmic piano figure and develops into a superb visual expression with a puckish tête-à-tête between the soprano saxophones of Xavier Perez and Felipe Salles. The mood and textures change dramatically with “Before the Outerspace,” where Felipe Salles creates a dramatic effect with beautifully toned bass clarinet. His speech-like modes are maintaining the dramatic tension of the song.

“X-cetera (after)” is an interesting composition where the melody states an obverse rhyming meter. The two tenors trading 8’s for some time and they make way for the dark piano, bass and percussion to lead the song into an extended piano improvisation that is urged on by the thundering cajon and rumble of the bass.

“El Amanecido” is a nervy polka that pits piano against percussion and horns in a rather jazzy chamane. ”Baguala” is stately, almost dolorous and brings to life a tstely dance form that stradles Argentina and Bolivia. The highlight once again is the superbly arranged dense tonal textures of the clarinets that color the piece and play off the tinkling piano beautifully executed and winds down with a swaggering blues ending. “(T) La Arania 08” is cast in the mould of a chorinho and is outstandingly authentic.

Teubal pays rich tribute to the music that might have first fired up his young imagination to conclude this memorable set. There is a fine piece; “A la Pantalla A” that turns the music awash with the rhythmic extravagance of Cordoba. This is an intense set and brings further evidence that Emilio Teubal is making a name for himself among the growing roster of young modern pianists and musicians.

Tracks: Ping Pong; Before the Outerspace; X-cetera (after); Un Monton de Notas; El Amanecido; Baguala; (T) La Arania; A la Pantalla A; Coda.

Personnel: Emilio Teubal: piano, Fender Rhodes, accordion; Xavier Perez: soprano saxophone (1, 3, 5, 8), tenor saxophone (2, 3, 6), flute (7); Felipe Salles: tenor saxophone (3, 5, 8, 9), soprano saxophone (1, 7), bass clarinet, flute (4); Moto Fukushima: six-string electric bass and effects; Franco Prima: drum set, bombo leguero; Kobi Solomon: clarinet (3, 4); Ivan Barenboim: clarinet (2, 4, 6, 7); Greg Heffernan: cello (4); Marelo Woloski: percussion (2, 4, 7), hand-clapping (1, 5).

Emilio Teubal and La Balteuband on the web: www.myspace.com/labalteuband

Review written by: Raul da Gama

Felipe Salles – Timeline (Curare Records 2008)

The angularity of Thelonious Monk melodies together with his idiosyncratic harmonic architecture, surrounded by rhythms that revolve and echo – bouncing off clouds and air. Sheets of Coltrane slicing through the wind, artfully chopped in short strident rhythms that rhyme with the rattle of the tom toms. High hat’s chop-chop-ch-ch-ch-chop and rolling rattle of those toms again then a stabbing pizzicato bass that yells and wails and grumbles in a mystic compound. It feels as if a Latin Shaman is creating a chromatic spell. That this could be Monk reborn to play a woodwind instrument while the epic landscape of Brasil flashes past, or the dark inner rhythms and rhymes of Afro-Cuban are bursting out of the tenor or the soprano.

This is how the music of Felipe Salles might sound on any given day. This and a slyly introduced tenor or soprano solo that skitters and jumps-rope in a maddening circular manner with an alto mind-blown by Jacam Manricks or a piano that is undergoing a bewitching spell at the magical fingers of Nando Michelin. This too is the music of Felipe Salles as it flows through with raw power, negotiating bends as in a river. These drums add color that is too tropical to be missed or even hidden so smartly as to take on a rumble in the jungle.

The has been simmering and threatening to break out but never being given an opportunity until now, sounds as if it were simmering from the most ancient of times and yet is so utterly modern as to never having been heard until it approaches the future… the perfect symbiosis of earthy voices swathed in the harmonics of the inner Vulcan being. The kind that always can be heard from Africa to Brasil to the constellations that dot the sky where the ghosts of Dolphy and Monk and Bird and Trane and men who heard music rhythmically and not just melodically or harmonically…

The names of the tracks on Timeline are ultimately of little consequence except that they are programmatic representations of the sounds that gather together and separate to drive the energy of the record. Relentlessly. An “Orb” and “Sphere” being typical of this crazy chamber of sound. Or “Mind Motions,” that swings and bops to the future of Afro-Brazilian-Jazz-Allsorts.

Return to the beginning of time… A Timeline, de capo de profundis delightful music magic until the future unfolds somewhere in between Sao Paulo, or Santiago and the twilight of the skyline of New York. Possible to dance in a trance… Impossible to categorize forever. Felipe Salles and his Quartet are steaming on “Crossing Borders, Live”.

Tracks: Orb; Sphere; Mind Motions; Further South; Noite a Dentro; Libra; The Cage.

Personnel: Felipe Salles: tenor and soprano saxophones; Jacam Manricks: alto saxophone; Nando Michelin: piano; Jorge Roeder: double bass; Bertram Lehmann: drums.

Felipe Salles on the web: www.sallesjazz.com | www.myspace.com/felipesallesgroup

Review written by: Raul da Gama