Jazz Articles about Hugo Carvalhais

About Hugo Carvalhais

Album Review

Venerable Portuguese bassist Hugo Carvalhais' “Ascetica" is a mesmerizing journey into the depths of progressive jazz, offering a soundscape which is vast and immersive, crafted with meticulous attention to detail. Carvalhais and his ensemble, create a polygonal musical environment through a blend of electronic manipulations, ambient soundscapes, springy synth riffs, and forceful sax soloing, often raising the temperature and broadening the scope. With blossoming jazz improvisations amid pulsating rock motifs, they occasionally generate fluctuating time signatures and slippery phrasings.

Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Grand Valis

Read "Grand Valis" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
April 29, 2016

Hugo Carvalhais, trentottenne contrabbassista di Oporto presenta il suo terzo disco (nel primo, Nebulosa, sempre per la Clean Feed, era presente Tim Berne) con una formazione assai particolare: al suo fianco, infatti, il tastierista Gabriel Pinto, impiegato soprattutto all'organo, e il violinista Dominique Pifarély, oltre a Jeremiah Cymerman all'elettronica. Come testimoniato già dai titoli (quello dell'album rimanda a un libro di Philip Dick) l'ispirazione della musica viene dal mistero del mondo, della sua nascita e delle sue manifestazioni ...

Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Grand Valis

Read "Grand Valis" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
June 13, 2015

What happens when modern composition meets jazz in a science fiction universe? The answer is Grand Valis by Portuguese bassist and composer Hugo Carvalhais. Carvalhais tackles the great universal questions of meaning in a musical language. Titles like “Exegesis," “Logos" and “Decoding Maya" point towards the philosophical nature of the music. Carvalhais plays bass and electronics, but here he is first of all a composer and musical thinker playing with the concept of sound. What is sound? ...

Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Particula

Read "Particula" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 9, 2012

Portuguese bassist Hugo Carvalhais creates a highly personal musical universe on this, his sophomore release. His compositions draw inspiration from the American free jazz of the sixties, the sonic experimentalism of saxophonist John Zorn and guitarist Fred Frith, and European chamber jazz, but do not surrender to any of these formative influences. Furthermore, Carvalhais chooses a distinct sonic structure for his band. He occupies the lower register with his bass, expanding it with delicate use of electronics and leaving only ...

Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Particula

Read "Particula" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 7, 2012

Dopo l'ottimo esordio di Nebulosa, il contrabbassista e compositore portoghese pubblica un nuovo lavoro confermando i componenti del suo abituale trio e presentando in front line il sax soprano Emile Parisien (già partner del quartetto di Daniel Humair) e il violinista Dominique Pifarély, ben noto per le collaborazioni con Louis Sclavis e François Couturier. Siamo ovviamente nell'ambito dell'avanguardia, in una dimensione che risente sia della libera improvvisazione di ambito jazzistico (inglobando anche certe suggestioni free) che della musica classico-contemporanea (evidente ...

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Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Nebulosa

Read "Nebulosa" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 14, 2010

Fans of American saxophonist Tim Berne are often inclined to seek out his latest recordings. Two 2010 sessions finds him as a sideman--bassist Michael Formanek's The Rub And The Spare Change (ECM), and this superb discovery from another bassist, Hugo Carvalhais.The Portuguese bassist composed all the music, played by Berne and fellow countrymen Gabriel Pinto (piano) and Mário Costa (drums). With Berne and his distinctive alto, it might be assumed that the focus would shift towards the Portuguese's ...