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Omawi: Marta Warelis / Onno Govaert / Wilbert De Joode: Waive
by John Sharpe
The familiar made remarkable by unfamiliar surroundings. That is the gist of Andy Moor's cover photo for Waive which shows a sun lounging woman apparently about to be engulfed by an enormous wave. It is also a suitable summary of what Omawi, the combined talents of Amsterdam- based Polish pianist Marta Warelis, and the Dutch pairing of drummer Onno Govaert and bassist Wilbert De Joode, deliver on Waive, the third album from a unit which cultivates a collective ethos.
read moreLuis Vicente 4tet: House In The Valley
by John Sharpe
Portuguese trumpeter Luis Vicente wrote the four compositions which make up House In The Valley during lockdown. His intention was to evoke childhood memories of times at his grandparents' rural house. Judging from the outcomes there must have been a lot of '60s American New Thing on the turntable at the time. In particular the way the group realizes Vicente's melodies recalls Don Cherry's outings from that period such as Complete Communion (Blue Note, 1966) and Symphony For Improvisers (Blue ...
read moreLuís Vicente 4tet: House In The Valley
by Mark Corroto
There is a synergy in simplicity and, with the Luís Vicente 4tet, a simplicity which comes from the synergistic effects of this unpretentious quartet. The four musicians--Portuguese composer, leader & trumpeter Luís Vicente, Dutch drummer Onno Govaert, and the Americans, tenor saxophonist John Dikeman and bassist Luke Stewart--assembled for a series of concerts in Portugal in 2021. This recording was captured in Caldas da Rainha on July 19th. The simplicity here is the same honesty we hear in the early ...
read moreAda Rave / Aaron Lumley / Onno Govaert: Bioluminus
by Mark Corroto
We can no longer refer to the music and creative Amsterdam scene with the title coined by author Kevin Whitehead as the New Dutch Swing. His 1998 book of the same name described the origins of the free jazz movement in The Netherlands and its now legendary masters such as Misha Mengelberg, Willem Breuker, Han Bennink, Eric Boeren, Ab Baars, Ig Henneman, Ernst Reijseger and Wilbert De Joode. Maybe a better label could be New Dutch Kings & Queens, as ...
read moreThe AtticRodrigo Amado / Gonçalo Almeida / Onno Govaert: Love Ghosts
by John Sharpe
Portuguese tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado has steadily become one of the premier players in the European free jazz arena, having banked the experience that comes through working with the likes of multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, trumpeter Peter Evans and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, reaping a rich dividend. Just how can be readily heard on Love Ghosts, the third release by the co-operative trio The Attic, where he is joined by fellow countryman bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert, a ...
read moreThe Attic: Love Ghosts
by Troy Dostert
Portuguese tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado maintains a busy recording schedule, involving dates with heavy-hitters like Joe McPhee, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Peter Evans, in addition to his own lineups, which do not always generate the same kind of buzz. One of his relatively under-recognized groups is The Attic, an outfit which includes bassist Gonçalo Almeida and drummer Onno Govaert. Their Summer Bummer (NoBusiness, 2019) was a superb live recording, putting the focus squarely on Amado, who is an excellent colleague ...
read moreIn Layers: Pliable
by John Sharpe
Working on-the-fly, improv outfit In Layers collectively orders timbral maneuvers into captivating momentum on Pliable, its second outing following the eponymous debut (FMR, 2016). The cast remains unchanged, the Portuguese pair of guitarist Marcelo Dos Reis and trumpeter Luis Vicente, being supplemented by Dutch drummer Onno Govaert and Amsterdam-based Icelandic pianist Kristjan Martinsson. Dos Reis and Vicente's liking for unhurried group congress has surfaced in multiple guises, prominent among them being Points (Multikulti Project, 2019), Chamber 4 (FMR, ...
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