Double Bassist and composer André
Carvalho, originally from Lisbon, Portugal and residing in NYC since 2014, is
proud to present his third recording as a leader, The Garden Of Earthly
Delights, to be released on May 17, and featuring his band of internationally
acclaimed musicians, saxophonists Jeremy Powell and Eitam Gofman, trumpeter
Oskar Stenmark, guitarist André Matos and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren.
His first two albums, Hajime and Memória de Amiba showed
Carvalho's highly personal perspective in music featuring an original blend of
contemporary jazz with elements from Portuguese music. Both projects received
rave reviews from Portuguese and International critics. Carvalho was awarded
the "Carlos Paredes" prize in 2012, a prestigious honor that
recognizes Portuguese music projects, as well as a "Best Group"
recognition in the Bucharest International Jazz Competition.
Now, with The Garden Of Earthly Delights, the double bassist
and composer presents an inspired aural universe, inspired by the enigmatic
work of the artist Hieronymus Bosch, particularly one of his most famous
paintings - "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (1490-1510, housed in the
Museo del Prado in Madrid). Carvalho wrote a suite of music that serves as an
invitation for a journey. Shifting between softness and harshness, simplicity
and complexity, harmony and conflict, the music flows between soundscapes
inspired by the triptych.
AllAboutJazz has asserted that Carvalho's compositions are,
"impressively well-structured", and that, "his writing offers
scope for different textures and layers of sound that often give the sensation
of a much larger ensemble, but he's not afraid to give space to just one or two
players at a time, creating some memorable performances as a result."
Indeed, on The Garden Of Earthly Delights, Carvalho's "attractive
compositional voice well founded in the modern trends of jazz"
(JazzTrail), gives us a dark, brooding landscape, full orchestral textures with
just a sextet, polyphony worthy of New Orleans, a dose of avant-garde and the
drama of Fado; all of this on the first track, "Prelude".
As to the genesis of the work, André said: "I always
wanted to write a larger piece, with several movements, connected by a common
concept. By mere chance, when revisiting Bosch's works, I was urged to express
his singularity through music." The Suite wanders between antagonistic
dichotomies such as improvised vs. composed music, between the influence of
jazz and contemporary music. Unlike André Carvalho's previous works, The Garden
Of Earthly Delights is an exploratory piece, leaning towards a different
direction, showing the evolution of his creativity, imagination and prodigiousness
with his composer's pen and his bass.
André Carvalho's credits are in abundance, his pedigree
unassailable, having worked with Chris Cheek, Will Vinson, Ian Froman, Colin
Stranahan, André Matos, Tommy Crane, Vinnie Sperrazza, Mário Laginha, Billy
Mintz, Maria João, Gilberto Gil, European Movement Jazz Orchestra, among many
others. The Fulbright grantee (with a Master of Music in jazz performance at
the Manhattan School of Music) has also worked extensively outside the jazz
world with the Ibero-American Orchestra (under Gustavo Dudamel), Anton Webern
Orchestra (under Franz Welser-Most and Heinrich Schiff), Lisbon Metropolitan
Orchestra (under Michael Zilm), among others, as well as contemporary ensembles
such as Octothorpe. His interest in Fado, Portugal's traditional music, led him
to perform with important names of this genre, such as Carlos do Carmo and
Cristina Branco.
In recent years, Carvalho has also been performing intensely
around Europe, performing as a bandleader and sideman in Portugal, Spain,
Austria, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, England, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia,
Serbia, Romania, as well as in the U.S. and Egypt.
The Garden Of Earthly Delights - Track listing:
1. Prelude
2. The Fools of Venus
3. The Fountain
4. Dracaena Draco
5. Of Mermaids and Mermen
6. Cherries, Brambles and Strawberries
7. The Towers of Eden
8. Evil Parade
9. The Thinker in the Tavern
10. The Forlorn Mill
11. Phowa
The recording sessions for The Garden Of Earthly Delights
took place in April 2018 at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, NY. The album was
mixed by the amazing producer, engineer and pianist Pete Rende, and mastered by
the musical polymath Nate Wood.
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