Rodrigo Amado: Motion Trio (2010)

Mark Corroto

Senior Contributor since 1999
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Mark misses his large dog Louie, but endeavors daily to find and listen to new and interesting sounds.

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Published: February 11, 2010

Listening to saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, while knowing that he is also an accomplished professional photographer, lends insight into his sound and sense of proportion. His trio members, cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini, share his recognition of arrangement, distribution, and music-making dimensions. Motion Trio is a freely improvised recording possessing balance.

Amado's previous trio recordings with Chicago bassist Kent Kessler and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love—Teatro (European Echoes, 2006) and The Abstract Truth (European Echoes, 2009)—iintroduced both his bright tenor sound and bold approach to the baritone. Unlike the previous sessions, where the ensemble's sound was built upon muscular engagement and struggle, Motion Trio is more about distribution and, to borrow a photographer's term, framing the improvisation just right.

The three players aren't so much involved in competition, such as the improvisational wrangling often heard during instant composing. Nor do Mira and Ferrandini act merely as a rhythm section for Amado's inventions. The five lengthy pieces and the stylishly petite "Ballad" achieve equilibrium through attentive listening and solicitous playing. The trio gives a nod toward Evan Parker, Barry Guy, and Paul Lytton on "Radical Leaves," ending with the tour de force, "In All Languages" (not to be confused with Ornette Coleman's tune)—a meditation or prayer that builds energy, culminating with more rumination than release.

Track Listing: Language Call; Testify!; Radical Leaves; As We Move...; Ballad; In All Languages.

Personnel: Rodrigo Amado: tenor saxophone; Miguel Mira: cello; Gabriel Ferrandini: drums.

Record Label: European Echoes
Style: Free Improv/Avant-Garde