Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jorge Moniz: Inquieta Luz

11

Jorge Moniz: Inquieta Luz

By

View read count
Jorge Moniz: Inquieta Luz
Inquieta Luz (Restless Light), by a band fronted by Portuguese drummer Jorge Moniz, explodes like a firework in all directions.

The opener, "Interruptor," is electronic and discordant, having the same sort of effect on the listener's sensibilities as fingers scraping down a blackboard.

After this—mercifully—things get very much better. The second track, "Neblina," is fusion à la In A Silent Way, featuring lilting, meditative piano from Luis Figueiredo and soaring guitar by Mario Delgado.

With "O Desvio (The Deviation)," there are echoes from the early days of rock 'n' roll and guitar heroes like Link Wray and Bill Justis. Delgado lays down a simple but catchy hook over a rocking beat supplied by the leader and Figueiredo comes on like a latter day Bill Doggett on organ. Yeah, man!

But the twang ain't the thang for long. It's on to the standout track, "Aurora Tem Um Menino (Aurora Has A Little Child)," a gentle folk song from the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, which features a beautiful, haunting vocal by Joana Espadhina and sees Delgado digging into his Iberian roots for a quite magnificent solo.

The song is from the "Cante Alentejano" repertoire, which has been declared an "intangible cultural heritage" by UNESCO.

"Infusao (Infusion)" is funky, almost danceable, with dark, sometimes almost sinister overtones. Like The Monster From The Black Lagoon meets (and attempts to devour) Ponyo.

"Porque Nao Me Ves (Why Not See Me?) is by Fausto, an important Portuguese singer/composer. It sounds on occasion like a hopped-up "Dancing Cheek To Cheek."

"Chula Quebrada (Broken Chula)" is based on the northern Portuguese musical form, Chula. It all goes a bit haywire towards close of play, but Moniz manfully instills order and takes his troops out to a marching beat.

While it goes off the rails now and again, Inquieta Luz is an interesting musical concoction and well worth a listen.

Track Listing

Interruptor; Neblina; O Desvio; Aurora Tem Um Menino; Infusao; A Danca Dos Veus, Movements 1 and 2; Porque Nao Me Ves; Chula Quebrada; Vejle.

Personnel

Jorge Moniz: drums; Luis Figueiredo: piano; Mario Delgado: guitar; Joao Custodio: bass; Joana Espadinha, Paulo Ribeiro: vocals.

Album information

Title: Inquieta Luz | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.