In the sweltering North-Eastern Brazilian state of
Pernambuco lies the coastal city of Recife, where Amaro Freitas is pioneering
the new sound of Brazilian jazz. For the prodigious young pianist, the spirit
of his hometown runs deep. From the Afro-Brazilian maracatu born on the sugar
plantations of slavery, to the high intensity carnival rhythms of frevo and
baião, Amaro’s heavily percussive approach to jazz is as indebted to these
Pernambuco traditions as it is to Coltrane, Parker and Monk.
As with many of the greats before him, Amaro began playing
piano in church aged 12, under the instruction of his father, leader of the
church band. As his natural talents became obvious, the young prodigy quickly
outgrew his father’s instruction. He won a place at the prestigious
Conservatório Pernambucano de Música but had to drop out as his family could
not spare the money for the bus fare. Undeterred, Amaro gigged in bands at
weddings and worked in a call centre to fund his tuition. The transformative
moment came at age 15 when Amaro stumbled across a DVD of Chick Corea concert,
“he completely blew my mind, I’d never seen anything like it but I knew that’s
what I wanted to do with a piano”.
Despite not actually owning a piano, Amaro devoted himself
to studying day and night – he would practice on imaginary keys in his bedroom
until eventually striking a deal with a local restaurant to practice before
opening hours. By the age of 22 Amaro was one of the most sought-after
musicians in Recife and resident pianist at the legendary jazz bar Mingus. It
was during this time he met and begun collaborating with bassist Jean Elton and
the pair went in search of a drummer. “We kept hearing about this crazy kid who
was playing in 7/8 or 6/4, we knew we had to meet him”. Hugo Medeiros joined,
and the Amaro Freitas Trio was born.
Following his critically acclaimed debut album Sangue Negro
(black blood), the title of his sophomore release Rasif is a colloquial
spelling of Amaro’s home town. A love letter to his native northeast, Amaro
explores its traditional rhythms through the jazz idiom, employing complex
mathematical patterns reminiscent of some of the most challenging works by
fellow Brazilian masters Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti and Moacir Santos.
Preferring to see the piano as a though it were a drum with
88 unique tones, Amaro’s intelligence and emotion intertwine on every track.
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