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Jazz Articles about Sara Serpa
Sara Serpa: Recognition
by Jerome Wilson
A lot of people have started to come to grips with shameful parts of their national heritage in recent times. In America, that has meant protests against displays of the Confederate flag and monuments to Confederate Civil War generals. For Portuguese-born vocalist and composer Sara Serpa, dealing with her heritage has taken a more personal form with Recognition, a multi-media work dealing with Portugal's history of colonial oppression and subjugation of native peoples in Angola. The piece has ...
Continue ReadingSara Serpa: Close Up
by Alberto Bazzurro
Finalmente un album pienamente convincente della cantante portoghese (qui anche autrice di tutto il materiale tematico), spesso preziosa, nella sua produzione, ma altrove (anche all'interno di uno stesso lavoro, suo o altrui) un po' disarticolata, quasi schizoide, magari solo curiosa, e comunque alterna nella resa in concreto. Sarà senz'altro anche merito dei due musicisti che l'affiancano, fatto sta che questo suo ultimo album, live alla Pete's House di Brooklyn nel giugno 2017, convince senza arzigogoli o avvitamenti (critici, estetici) di ...
Continue ReadingClean Feed 2018
by Mark Corroto
Since it's inception in 2002, Lisbon, Portugal's Clean Feed Records has released nearly 500 recordings. Last year the total was 64. Keeping up with their output might be the best way to follow innovative jazz and improvised music in the 21st century. Besides releasing music by masters such as Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee, Ivo Perelman, Elliott Sharp, Anthony Braxton, and Rudresh Mahanthappa, they have introduced world audiences to the talents of Rodrigo Amado, Luís Lopes, Dre Hočevar, Gard Nilssen, and ...
Continue ReadingSara Serpa: Close Up
by Jerome Wilson
Portuguese vocalist Sara Serpa has been a significant presence on the New York jazz scene for several years now, creating music with literary and artistic allusions in the company of renowned musicians like Ran Blake, Nicole Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey. For her latest project she leads a trio that also features saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and cellist Erik Friedlander. The music they make together, with Serpa often singing wordlessly, creates an airy tapestry of sound. On “Sol Enganador" Friedlander ...
Continue ReadingVadim Neselovskyi: Get Up And Go
by Jerome Wilson
Ukrainian pianist Vadim Neselovskyi has an affecting, organic sound that draws more from classical and folk idioms than the usual jazz materials. It can range from fragile to overpowering and on this CD, it allows him to establish a strong, individual presence in the crowded piano trio field.On fast pieces like “On A Bicycle" and “Who Is It?" Neselovskyi's playing is busy and relentless and stays in close rapport with bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Ronen Itzik who ...
Continue ReadingVadim Neselovskyi Trio: Get Up And Go
by Dan Bilawsky
In June of 2014, Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi was in his native Ukraine, eager and ready to bring his singular brand of energy to a crowd at that country's premier jazz gathering--the Alfa Jazz Fest. Minutes before his trio was set to take the stage, Neselovskyi learned that a Ukrainian military plane had been shot down by separatists. The audience he was due to perform for was in a downhearted state, reflective of the feeling(s) across the entire nation, and the ...
Continue ReadingSara Serpa, André Matos: All the Dreams
by Alberto Bazzurro
Elegante, delicato, gradevole, ma anche edulcorato, epidermico, plastificato, sostanzialmente vacuo, oltre che veramente troppo ripetitivo: questo il ritratto che ci sentiremmo di trasmettere del secondo lavoro del duo portoghese composto da Sara Serpa, cantante (ma qui anche più o meno occasionale tastierista), già nota per opere in proprio e accanto a Ran Blake, soprattutto, e André Matos, chitarrista. La partenza, e di fatto tutta la prima quaterna di brani, indulge prevalentemente sui difetti del disco, sui tratti che ...
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