Sediments by Lisbon String Trio & Gabriel Ferrandini

Live recording by Miguel Azguime on November 18th 2019 at O'Culto da Ajuda, Lisbon.
Mix, master and graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Collages by Dilar Pereira.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

After I'd just discussed Trio KSZ & And George Lewis earlier this month, the similarly inspired Lisbon String Trio has released their twelfth album, Sediments featuring Gabriel Ferrandini on percussion, recorded live in Lisbon last month. It's a relatively short album, but opens with a (percussive) bang to make a strong impression: I hadn't been very familiar with Ferrandini (b.1986), that is outside of Red Trio (another group that had a run of quartet albums with various guests) & elsewhere alongside his usual bass partner, Hernâni Faustino. (It turns out that Ferrandini's more personal explorations are recently available on Clean Feed with Volúpias, an album of composed music for a classic free jazz sax trio — sonically dominated by the horn, as is traditional.) Ferrandini also joins fellow Red Trio member Rodrigo Pinheiro in recording with Lisbon String Trio, the latter's Rhetorica (discussed here this past August) having appeared recently as well. Ferrandini further joins Portuguese icons Sei Miguel (on From Faust) & Carlos Zingaro (on Theia) — both albums first discussed here in July 2018 — in recording with LST after developing a reputation elsewhere. But the most similar album, at least in some ways, might be Merz with Gil Gonçalves on tuba (discussed in July 2019), in that the soloist is relatively centered & quite audible in what comes off as a concerto format. (From Faust already showed some of this concertante character.) In this, compared to some of the subtler articulations in the series, it's relatively easier to hear & follow. The combination with strings & percussion also seemed relatively rare, but upon recalling some precedents, it's more the way that the musicians interact on Sediments that's different: There was actually a run of trio albums of this basic sort — i.e. drums, bass & either viola or cello — in 2017 for some reason (as I don't believe I've been ignoring them since): Natura morta's fourth album Environ (with Frantz Loriot) was discussed here that April, followed quickly by both Spinning Jenny (featuring Daniel Levin) & the Judson Trio's An Air of Unreality (with Mat Maneri) later that month, and then The Selva (featuring Ricardo Jacinto) in June. (Of course, there've been many other trios with e.g. guitar or electronics in an otherwise analogous sonic configuration.) What these albums have in common, though, is the basic layered format of a jazz sax trio, i.e. with the higher string as "horn" supported by a rhythm team. Sediments, besides being a quartet, adopts a different configuration, however, in centering the percussion in a concerto-like format. Perhaps a more relevant, seemingly classically-inspired example would be the album pair Blattwerk (quintet) & Zweige (sextet), likewise from Ernesto Rodrigues & featuring Vasco Trilla on subtly pervasive percussion amid string ensembles. (These albums also hinge with Trio KSZ via Kimmig's participation, and the second even seems to anticipate the LST series, as Alvaro Rosso joined the prior quintet already including Miguel Mira.... It's also interesting that, although Rodrigues records so often with other string players, his participation in such ensembles augmented by percussion — beyond those just mentioned with Trilla — has been relatively rare, the last trio apparently being the evocatively titled Aether with Monsieur Trinité, as mentioned here in October 2016.) Perhaps the most direct comparison, sometimes featuring marimba in this way, is still the quintet album Chant.... (And in another direction, I should cite the recent Trappist-1, on which Ramon Lopez & Mark Feldman perform strongly contrasting roles, but it's still creative percussion supported by classical-inspired violin, if more traditional in the latter case....) In any of these situations, it seems as though balance issues could present themselves, mandating either restraint or layering of roles: Indeed, struggling to hear everything happening has been part of the experience of listening to many of these albums in the past (although updated equipment has helped greatly), but Sediments takes a different approach. (It's also different from the similarly named Sediment — first discussed here in March 2015 — from drummer Carlo Costa: There, the geologic inspiration yields relatively impersonal layers to be traversed in time as a sort of travelogue, although it does end up being sonically similar at times....) Sediments instead begins with a sort of percussion eruption, as even the strings are percussive to start, a sort of initial uncoiling slowly sedimenting & smoothing into longer lines & legato string tones, as well as quietly rolling percussion, while retaining an original nonlinear dynamic. Later timbres can seem quite a contrast to the sharply metallic opening, passing through wood blocks & other material sonorities as they develop, until the opening seems almost to have exhausted itself — all while balance issues are ultimately handled impressively (in both loud & quiet modes). There's a lot of presence, and generally some lively figures, even as the sediments start to harden. I don't feel personally transformed as a result (although Sediments does transform its own material), but such a "percussion concerto" arrangement has much to offer: It's the flashy opening that continues to make the strongest impression, with little aura of jazz per se, but the various timbral combos & nonlinear directions generated by the quartet on Sediments already suggest many (more) possibilities for such a combination of forces. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Ernesto Rodrigues (altówka), Miguel Mira (wiolonczela) i Alvaro Rosso (kontrabas) powołali do życia Lizbońskie Trio Strunowe cztery lata temu, edytorsko zaistnieli zaś w roku 2017, gdy udostępnili światu od razu sześć albumów (bodaj o jednym z nich pisaliśmy na tych łamach). Kolejne epizody dostarczali wielbicielom kameralnej, swobodnej improwizacji dość regularnie, jakkolwiek z nieco mniejszą częstotliwością. W sumie doczekaliśmy się jak dotąd dwunastu płyt tria, przy czym aż w jedenastu przypadkach były to edycje trio +1. Wydawcą wszystkich płyt w formacie CD jest – co z zrozumiałe – Creative Sources Records.
Rok 2020 Lisbon String Trio otwarli płytą Sediments, którą nagrali z gościnnym udziałem jednego z naszych ulubionych, iberyjskich drummerów Gabriela Ferrandiniego. Rok poprzedni zaś zamknęli płytą Rhetorica z udziałem innego członka słynnego RED Trio, pianisty Rodrigo Pinheiro. Właśnie o tych dwóch płytach chcemy Wam dzisiaj opowiedzieć.
Perkusyjne otwarcie - liczeni krawędzi, sprawdzanie jakości naciągu membrany na werblu – i szmer na strunach altówki łagodnie wprowadzają nas w klimat koncertu. Ferrandini od pierwszych chwil szuka narracji, ale póki co, raczej tonie w ciszy oczekiwania. Struny wydają pojedyncze fonie dla podkreślenia owego stanu dramaturgicznego napięcia. Jednak już po 2 minutach śmiało możemy ogłosić, iż narracja została uformowana. Free chamber czynione jest w tempie dalekim od typowego slow motion, w czym zasługa głównie nadaktywnego drummera, która nie pozwala na sekundę zawahania. Następujące po kilku minutach pozorne zejście w obszar ciszy zdaje się być jedynie pretekstem do wzrostu dynamiki opowieści. Gabriel stymuluje i napędza flow, kameralna zaduma, to nie jest jego naturalne środowisko. W 8 minucie na gryfie kontrabasu pojawia się smyczek, dając sygnał do drobnego, barokowego spowolnienia. Tło trzyma jednak … dynamiczny taniec pałeczek perkusyjnych na talerzu. Prawdziwa cisza spowija nas na moment po kolejnych dwóch minutach. Struny oddychają spokojnie, a Gabriel liczy misy i małe talerzyki, które zabrał ze sobą na koncert. Kind of dark chamber in slow motion as well! – notuje bystry recenzent. W upływie 13 minuty viola zaczyna harcować, ale pozostałe smyki trzymają ją w ryzach dramaturgii. Deep drumming wzmaga nastrój tajemniczości. Rozkołysane chamber z czasem nabiera jednak pewnego rodzaju dynamiki – dobre expo staje się udziałem szczególnie altówki. Po 18 minucie łyżkę jazzu i swobodnego drummingu dorzuca Ferrandini. Strunowce w komentarzu kolebią się od prawej do lewej i wiszą w błyskotliwym suspendzie…
Ponowne pojawienie się smyczka na gryfie kontrabasu stanowi kolejny stempel jakości. W 23 minucie tempo delikatnie rośnie, co w dużej mierze jest skutkiem aktywności aktówki i perkusji. Nie na długo jednak, albowiem narracja znów staje w miejscu i cudownie rozbrzmiewa - raz rozkwita, innym razem tuli się w wielobarwne pąki. Perkusyjne szczoteczki w galopie, to następny pomysł Gabriela, który doprowadza jednak narrację na skraj … kolejnej ciszy. Pojedyncze struny altówki drżą, te z wiolonczeli płyną wąskim strumieniem. Zwinne szczoteczki, dźwięczne talerze, a także mała polerka strun budują finałową część koncertu. Perkusja w pełnym rozkwicie i lekko zwieszone strunowce kreują zjawiskowe zakończenie, które ma swoje tempo, ale czynione jest delikatnie, niemal na palcach. Brawo! Andrzej Nowak (Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej)

Portugal's Lisbon String Trio of double bassist Alvaro Rosso, cellist Miguel Mira and violist Ernesto Rodrigues, are joined by Red Trio/ Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio drummer Gabriel Ferrandini for this concert performance at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal as part of the CreativeFest XIII, finding inspired balance in introspective sections and periods of exciting activity. Squidco

Finally, another Meisterstück of Lisbon String Trio, this time with Gabriel Ferradini on percussion, recorded during the CreativeFest XIII at O'Culta da Ajuda, Lisbon in November 2019. The presence of powerful drumming of Gabriel changes the spirit: the music is closer now to free jazz mixed with free improvisation, and is simply breathtaking! Maciej Lewenstein

Creative Sources releases a plethora of improv/jazz and experimental electronic music.
Founded in 2000.

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