The Free Poetics of Henrique Eisenmann introduces the music
of Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann, a groundbreaking voice in the today's
jazz community. Drawing inspiration from different folk world rhythms, chants,
voices, poems and animal sounds, Henrique creates a unique musical universe,
modern, thought-provoking, but at the same time lyrical and playful. The idea
of using the piano trio instrumentation with percussion instead of drums adds a
new layer of subtlety and complexity to the sound, and at the same time
suggests sounds and images from several traditional musics from around the
world.
Henrique's virtuosic piano playing is completely
unconventional, featuring an impressive array of creative techniques, gestures
and independence; hands juxtaposing multiple different rhythms, playing
different melodies simultaneously, all with an extreme freedom and mobility
over time, but still committed to the groove.
The opening track Introduction - Niños Peruanos immediately
throws the listener into a completely new world, by featuring a recording of
6-year-old Peruvian boy reciting a poem in Spanish, underneath which Henrique
freely improvises and suddenly starts a joyful musical conversation with the
kid. Words gain a complete new musical sense, and slowly a wonderful musical
fabric starts to unveil, leading to a celebratory explosion over Hermeto
Pascoal's Zurich.
Sarabande No. 2 offers a strong contrast, introducing a
lyrical and classical melody with intricate chromatic harmonies, elegantly
accompanied by Jorge Roeder, the Peruvian born Grammy-nominated bassist. The
piece arrives to its climax, in which the polished Sarabande is transformed
into a rhythmic outburst led by percussionist Rogério Boccato, who is able to
emulate, alone, the sound and energy of fifty percussionists. Born in Brazil,
Boccato has performed with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento and jazz
legends such as Kenny Garrett and Joe Zawinul, operating a daring fusion of
traditional percussion with improvisation and experimental sounds.
Jeneupti is perhaps the most mysterious and fascinating
piece on the album, featuring a perplexing field recording of a Ghanaian girl
hoarsely singing a hypnotic melody. Henrique is in the background playing a
series of repetitive chords extracted from Charles Ives' song Serenity (1919),
and slowly starts to seamlessly harmonize the voice revealing an entirely new
hidden character in the melody hitherto unnoticed by the listener.
"I'm always searching for creative alternatives for
re-composing music, to not get stuck in scales and traditional harmonies, and
human speech is a great source of inspiration because of repeated notes,
unexpected leaps, and sometimes sequence of notes that you would never imagine
otherwise; so transcribing to voice is a great exercise to expand your musical
horizons." (Eisenmann).
According to Henrique, Afro-Latidos was inspired by mbira
music from Zimbabwe, emulating the peculiar sounds of the thumb-pianos. The
piece unfolds into an energetic groove, featuring a magnetizing solo by
saxophonist Gustavo D'Amico, that recalls the sonority of Roscoe Mitchell's or
John Coltrane's collaboration with North African musicians.
Anthropophagy is the album's ballad. The weird title -
anthropophagy means cannibalism - is a reference to the Modernist movement in
Brazil, which used the metaphor of foreign culture being devoured and digested
by natives, becoming a new national identity. The piece is actually a
recomposition of Charlie Parker's "Anthropology", played six times
slower than the original tempo. The result is a completely new lyrical piece,
completely unrecognizable. Perhaps the few bebop phrases at the very end may hint
some of Parker's original melody to the attentive listener.
Dans un Fracas de Plumes (birds) was inspired by the poetry
of Israeli poet Hadassa Tal, who has collaborated with Henrique in his 2013
solo record "Notes for Pina Bausch". The central idea is to recreate
the chaotic interaction between groups of birds, in which there's no real
pulse, harmony, and order, but somehow it creates a sort of meta-organization,
with humor, spontaneity and abrupt musical gestures. The highly crafted unison
phrases played by Eisenmann and saxophonist Gustavo D'Amico demonstrate a
fantastic work on precision and rhythmic freedom.
Zumbi describes the life of Zumbi dos Palmares, an important
pioneer in the resistance against slavery in Brazil. Henrique introduces by the
piece by imitating the sounds of a Brazilian berimbau (one-stringed percussion
instrument) on the piano, and slowly developing it into an enigmatic melody,
recalling ancient African Brazilian grooves.
Epilogue - Pífanos is a short and perfect closing piece, a synthesis
of the idiosyncratic musical worlds created by Henrique. While playing and
whistling a simple folk melody on the piano, Henrique simultaneously introduces
a utterly wild improvisation on the left-hand, slowly taking over and
transforming the piece into a turbulent musical blast; a demonstration of
incredible virtuosity and independence. In the background, one can hear the
distant sounds of the old Brazilian "pífano" bands, traditional
marching bands playing small bamboo flutes.
As a nostalgic yet transformed musical exploration,
"The Free Poetics of Henrique Eisenmann" features the virtuosity and
fertile creativity of the young pianist, able to bring together the complexity
of improvisation and a wide array of musical genres, sculpting a voice of artistic
liberty that celebrates imagination, affection and the joy of making music
together.
"Poetics is the raw essence behind a piece of art; the
purpose, the fresh energy that allows art to free itself and fly opening new
paths; a praise of freedom." (Henrique Eisenmann)
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Henrique Eisenmann has always
been intrigued with the idea of translating different musical sonorities to the
piano. Henrique focuses on unique collaborations with artists from all
different fields: dancers, poets, and actors. Among his latest releases, the
2015 solo album "Notes for Pina Bausch" (inspired by the poetry of
Hadassa Tal) has drawn large recognition from the dance community, being used
in several dance and theater spectacles around the world. Henrique has
performed and recorded with dozens of outstanding musicians such as Gunther
Schuller, Luciana Souza, Bob Moses, Luis Bonilla, Matti Caspi and Tom Zé. He
holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the New England Conservatory in Boston.
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