Jazz Articles about Sara Serpa

About Sara Serpa

Album Review

Sara Serpa, André Matos: All the Dreams

Read "All the Dreams" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
December 13, 2016

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 ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa – Ran Blake: Aurora

Read "Aurora" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 1, 2013

Secondo album (dopo Camera Obscura, datato 2010) del duo composto dalla trentaquattrenne cantante di Lisbona e dal settantottenne pianista del Massachusetts, Aurora raccoglie i riflessi di una doppia seduta (dal vivo e in studio) tenutasi nella capitale portoghese nel maggio 2012. Il clima che lo contraddistingue è lieve, ora più colloquiale, ora più scarno, quasi scabro, giocato per lo più su tinte tenui e volumi ridotti, con rare impennate verso temperature più accese. Ci sono eleganza e coerenza espressiva, ma ...

Interview

Sara Serpa: A Musical Journey

by Hrayr Attarian
January 29, 2013

Vocalist and composer Sara Serpa is one of the most original and innovative musicians to emerge since the turn of the century. She has already made an indelible mark on the modern music scene in the span of a mere four years. Her unique style of vocalese allows her to utilize the full range of her exquisite and clear voice with the agility of an instrumentalist and stand out of the crowd as a sublime interpreter and a bold improviser. ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa / Ran Blake: Aurora

Read "Aurora" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
January 10, 2013

Aurora is vocalist Sara Serpa's second release with her mentor, pianist Ran Blake. A duet recital recorded live at Lisbon's Auditório da Culturges, despite being more laidback and slightly less adventurous, it is just as creative as the pair's engrossing Camera Obscura (Inner Circle, 2010). Serpa and Blake's sparse and atmospheric delivery of these dozen songs is inventive, intellectually stimulating and satisfying. The cinematic “Dr. Mabuse" features Serpa's wordless vocals, moving from wistfully contemplative to fiercely passionate, ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa / Ran Blake: Aurora

Read "Aurora" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 19, 2012

Portuguese vocalist Sara Serp's follow-up to Camera Obscura (Inner Circle, 2010), with renowned pianist Ran Blake, retains the fresh and irreverent approach of their debut. A former student of Blake's the two never sound obvious or predictable, even when they are interpreting popular jazz standards. Their versions offer deeper and often innocent insights to some of these most memorable songs. Aurora's 12 songs were recorded live in Serpa's hometown of Lisbon, and demonstrates the duo's highly personal ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa: Mobile

Read "Mobile" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 9, 2012

Di questo lavoro della cantante portoghese Sara Serpa, collaboratrice fra gli altri di Greg Osby, Ran Blake e Danilo Perez, colpisce immediatamente - noi italiani, almeno - la citazione da Pavese presente in seconda di copertina. Praticamente ognuno dei dieci brani che compongono Mobile, del resto, ha un aggancio letterario, da Omero a Erodoto, da Melville a Steinbeck, a tutti gli altri, compreso l'Hugo Pratt di - guarda caso - “Corto". Fa eccezione il solo “Sum Razão," fado di Fernando ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa: Mobile

Read "Mobile" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 20, 2012

Portuguese singer Sara Serpa is what is produced when the talents of Gretchen Parlato, Simin Tander and Tierney Sutton coalesce. Her voice is light and elastic, sporting a fierce intellect. Couple this with a vision/sense of humor of a Nicholas Urie and the result is a radioactive type of 21st Century Beat Poetry. Like Urie and his lyric book sources Excerpts From An Online Dating Service (Red Piano, 2009)--with text from the same--and My Garden (Red Piano, 2011), drawn from ...