Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

ALBUM REVIEW May 7, 2014

André Fernandes: Wonder Wheel

Read "Wonder Wheel" reviewed by Chris Mosey

André Fernandes, guitarist with the Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos, one of Portugal's most dynamic big bands, is an accomplished musician and was obviously hoping for great things with this one. He commissioned Maria Bouza Pinto, an artist who is the epitome of “ le cool Lisboa“ to design the cover. And he recruited Ines Sousa from the up-and-coming rock band Julie And The Carjackers to handle vocals. So far, so good, but at this point Fernandes forgot ...

ALBUM REVIEW April 25, 2014

Cine Qua Non: Cine Qua Non

By Chris Mosey

Sine qua non is a Latin term meaning something absolutely needed, or essential. This Portuguese quartet is exactly that in terms of bringing melody and accessibility back to the fore in European jazz. However, their name is mis-spelt because accordionist Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva says their music “alludes to the cinema." With his instrument lending a very French, nostalgic feel to the proceedings, the movie seems to be set in Paris. Jean Gabin and Michele Morgan ...

ALBUM REVIEW April 24, 2014

Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos: Jazz Composers Forum

By Chris Mosey

In 1937 Duke Ellington's recipe for big band jazz was: “It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing." Count Basie later added a caveat defining swing as something “you can really pat your foot by." Times sure have changed. Portugal's Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos commissioned pieces by eight modern composers of big band music--four each from either side of the Atlantic--for their latest album and swing only rarely entered into the equation. Although something ...

EXTENDED ANALYSIS March 15, 2014

Andre Carvalho: Memoria De Amiba

By Phil Barnes

Subtlety and gentility are not qualities that our modern world tends to value significantly, but in jazz they can add greatly to the listening experience. Think perhaps of say a Bill Evans and Jim Hall collaboration or maybe Arve Henriksen's recent Places of Worship, music that beguiles and insinuates its way into your sub-conscious until it feels as if it has always been a part of your life. While it is too soon to say whether the new ...

ALBUM REVIEW February 5, 2014

Andre Carvahlo: Memoria De Amiba

By Bruce Lindsay

Early inspiration comes to jazz musicians in a number of ways. Many can remember the first time they heard Miles Davis or Charlie Parker, others recall their first encounter with Ella Fitzgerald. Bassist André Carvalho has vivid memories of the amoeba--vivid and important enough to name his second album in honor of the unicellular creature, Memória De Amiba. The Lisbon-born bassist is classically-trained as well as having studied jazz (and computer engineering). On Memória De Amiba Carvahlo leads ...

ALBUM REVIEW January 16, 2014

André Santos: Ponto De Partida

By Chris Mosey

This album is exactly what it says it is: a Ponto de Partida, or “Starting Point" for André Santos, a young jazz guitarist from the island of Madeira, and his band. What's on offer here is pretty sparse and minimalist but hints at greater things to come. The band has already won a prize in the 25th Portuguese Premio Jovens Musicos awards. The opener, “Zion" consists of a rather basic guitar- based groove that ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 5, 2013

Joao Paulo Esteves Da Silva & Jazz Orquestra de Matosinhos: Bela Senao Sem

By Chris Mosey

João Paulo Esteves Da Silva's compositions, while owing much to the folk and classical traditions of his native Portugal and something to Gil Evans' writing in the 1950s, on occasion display quite breathtaking originality. If modern, post-Salazar Portugal has a musical identity it is surely contained in these wordless, questing songs emerging from Matosinhos, a city hitherto renowned artistically only as the birthplace of architect Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira and poet Florbela Espanca.