Bernardo Sassetti Trio: Culturgest 2007

Many listeners were introduced to the pianist Bernardo Sassetti by the record label Clean Feed, which built its early reputation on his recordings. The releases Nocturno (2004), Indigo (2004), Ascent (2005), Unreal: Sidewalk Cartoon (2006), and Motion (2010) are true evergreens. His untimely accidental death in 2012 (like that of Esbjorn Svensson in 2008) was a shock to Sassetti's many supporters.

A decade on, a 2007 concert performance by Sassetti and his longtime trio of bassist Carlos Barretto and drummer Alexandre Frazão at Culturgest's Auditorium in Lisbon surfaced. This live date, convened to mark the 10th anniversary of this working unit, certainly rates as one of the trio's outstanding recordings. With a passionate audience in attendance, the trio opens the concert with some rolling thunder before settling into a dreamscape of sound. Sassetti's sound might have begun in a Bill Evans vein, but he also sounds a bit like Chick Corea with splashes of Thelonious Monk. That is to say, he mines the romantic canon with an ear for angular melodies which move the backside. This is evidenced by "Algumas Coisas Não Mudam," and the trio's cover of "I'm Thru With Love" which utilizes a percussive attack fueled by Barretto and Frazão's locomotion. Elsewhere Sassetti displays his chamber classical/jazz chops with the trio's performance of "Reflexo" and solo "Tristeza Dos Dois." They apply deep groove vibes with "Um Dia Através Do Vidro," before ending with the cinematic and romantic "Quando Volta O Encanto."