Dear All About Jazz Readers,

If you're familiar with All About Jazz, you know that we've dedicated over two decades to supporting jazz as an art form, and more importantly, the creative musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made All About Jazz one of the most culturally important websites of its kind in the world reaching hundreds of thousands of readers every month. However, to expand our offerings and develop new means to foster jazz discovery we need your help.

You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky Google ads PLUS deliver exclusive content and provide access to future articles for a full year! This combination will not only improve your AAJ experience, it will allow us to continue to rigorously build on the great work we first started in 1995. Read on to view our project ideas...

Per Gärdin / Travassos / Marco Franco: Oblique (trio)

By MARK CORROTO
September 12, 2018
Sign in to view read count

Per Gärdin / Travassos / Marco Franco: Oblique (trio)

You've come to expect a music review to direct you to pay close attention to a particular passage or solo in a recording. But what if a commentator suggested the best manner to appreciate a recording was to dissipate one's attention and dissolve it into the ether? How would you then experience the music? Would it be through touch, taste, or sight? Certainly not through smell.

The trio of Per Gärdin, Travassos, and Marco Franco want you to consider the possibility that we all possess a sixth sense, an inexplicable awareness beyond normal perception. Their album was recorded during a flurry of music making by Swedish saxophonist Per Gärdin in Portugal, which produced History of The Lisbon Chaplaincy (Creative Sources, 2017) and Oblique Mirrors (ibn Musik, 2015).

The suggestion of a sixth sense, or ESP, is a clue as to what the trio's scheme is on this recording. Spontaneous improvisation, yes. But they also give the impression this music exists apart from its analog wave or conversion into a stream of numbers. Gardin's saxophone glides as it keeps an almost constant chatter of energy throughout. Travassos keeps a smoldering cauldron of electronics from boiling over, as Franco is occupied with the business of herding a collection of percussive sounds. The energy center of the music is well guarded, as perception of it is oblique. The trio is juggling some musical spheres here, keeping an illusory dream aloft throughout. At least, that is what is imagined.

Track Listing: Warped; Wry; Cracked; Askew.

Personnel: Per Gärdin: alto saxophone, soprano saxophones; Travassos: electronics; Marco Franco: drums, percussion.

Title: Oblique (trio) | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Ibn Musik

About Per Gärdin / Travassos / Marco Franco

Album Reviews

Oblique (trio) by Mark Corroto

Oblique (trio)

Ibn Musik
2018

buy

Shop

Start your shopping here and you'll support All About Jazz in the process. Learn how.

Recent
Popular

Album Reviews

Buy Now

East Of The Sun by Michael Kocour

Rhythm Kaleidoscope
Frank Macchia
Cacophony2018
East Of The Sun
Michael Kocour
OA2 Records2019

Jazz Story

I love jazz because it is musically complex, emotional, and challenges me. I was first exposed to jazz later in life, at around 29 years old. I met Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, and Johnny O'Neal sitting in at jams in NYC
Read more

I love jazz because it is musically complex, emotional, and challenges me. I was first exposed to jazz later in life, at around 29 years old. I met Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, and Johnny O'Neal sitting in at jams in NYC. The first jazz record I bought was You Won't Forget Me by Shirley Horn. My advice to new listeners is keep an open mind.
Show less

By Kristin Callahan
Member since: 2015

Per Gärdin / Travassos / Marco Franco: Oblique (trio)

Album Reviews

East Of The Sun by Michael Kocour