Seattle by Ernesto Rodrigues, Jonathan Sielaff, Vic Rawlings, Leif Sundstrom, Gust Burns & Manuel Mota

Recorded on February 2006, at Gallery 1412 during the Seattle Improvised Music Festival.
Recorded by Noriaki Watanabe.
Mastered by Joel Conde.
Graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

“Seattle” é a pérola deste conjunto, chegando Ernesto Rodrigues e os restantes participantes (numa das peças Jonathan Sielaff, Vic Rawlins e Leif Sundstrom e na outra Sielaff de novo, Gust Burns e Manuel Mota) a desenlaces brilhantes. De toda a produção recente de Rodrigues será o título mais incaracterístico, até porque menos vinculado às premissas reducionistas. Pressente-se a influência da new music norte-americana ao longo de toda a audição, e quando chegamos ao tema em que Mota participa, com os seus típicos recursos “fingerpicking”, as coordenadas são claramente outras, incorporando procedimentos dos blues, da folk e do jazz. Ora, sabe-se como este guitarrista pode ser particularmente gestual nas suas execuções. Rui Eduardo Paes (Jazz.pt)

What reads on the J-card as a large group is actually two separate quartets recorded in February 2006 at Gallery 1412 in Seattle. They might be two sets from the same night, but the notes don't say. The first piece (both are fairly long improvisations) finds Rodrigues' viola and Sielaff's bass clarinet commingling with Vic Rawlins cello and electronics and Leif Sundstrom's electronics. It is a rather stately affair, a series of long slow builds and quick descents. Careful pilings of blocks which are toppled again and again, with quick pauses for breath here and there — a series of vignettes or a shuffling of droney postcards.
By contrast the second piece, with Gust Burns' piano and Manuel Mota on electric guitar, is a long slice of lazy chatter. Without the electronics, the sound sources are all more recognizable, and it's easier to work out who's doing what, for what it's worth. There's much careful listening going on in both sets, though the second offers up a bit more argument than discussion. After a few minutes of toe-in-the-water testing things heat up and begin to quietly steam, never boiling over or really abating for long. Pay close attention to the piano. Gust Burns has an uncanny ability to choose beautiful ideas to throw into the mix, and his touch on such an old and weary instrument breathes a bit of new life into it. It's a mystery why he isn't heard more. Jeph Jerman (The Squid's Ear)

Portuguese label Creative Sources picked a couple of old recordings of two interesting performances held in February 2006 at Gallary 1412, a performative space in Seattle's Central District, from its huge archive. Even though six musicians have been involved, it's not a sextet, but two fourtets, whose steady elements are Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Jonathan Sielaff on bass clarinet. The most relevant aspect of these recordings is the fact that these inventive musicians were already testing sonorities in between electroacoustic and improv music that someone would name New Music today in a period when such a kind of stylistical digressions were not so popular. This release consists of two long-lasting sessions, the first of which features electronics, while the latter is just instrumental: the glueing element of the first session is the alternation of two very low frequencies from Vic Rawlings' cello and Leif Sundstrom's electronics, which sometimes thicken and overflow their banks so that listener could easily sense the intriguing and somehow mesmerizing dynamics by which they let seep or drawn other sonic entities with a thrilling sequence of out-of-sync moments and menacingly magmatic stillness. There are no proper driving forces or glueing elements on the second session, even if the air that Sielaff blew inside his bass clarinet could sound like an ersatz of the above-mentioned low frequencies or vice-versa, but after a sort tuning prelude, the short but trenchant phrases from Manuel Mota's electric guitar and Gust Burns' piano come to light as if they were frozening wisecracks in the middle of many different conversations. Vito Camarretta (Chain DLK)

This is not a sextet record, but two quartets (Rodrigues, viola, and Sielaff, bass clarinet, being the common denominators), both recorded in the US in February 2006, and released as a single CD in 2012. Each quartet is represented by a 30-minute free improvisation. The piece by the quartet that includes cellist Vic Rawlings and Leif Sundstrom on electronics is plain fantastic: listening skills beyond reproach, rich and puzzling sound palette, destabilizing bass frequencies; it kept me on the edge of my seat. Though interesting, the second quartet (with Gust Burns at the piano and Manuel Mota on guitar) doesn’t reach the same level of intensity and otherness. François Couture (Monsieur Delire)

Dividido em dois temas, este disco conta com duas formações diferentes, dois quartetos distintos. No primeiro tema estão reunidos Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Jonathan Sielaff (clarinete baixo), Vic Rawlings (violoncelo, electrónica) e Leif Sundstrom (electrónica). Para o segundo tema juntam-se Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Jonathan Sielaff (clarinete baixo), Gust Burns (piano) e o português Manuel Mota (guitarra eléctrica). Gravado no ano de 2006, no Seattle Improvised Music Festival (EUA), o álbum arranca de forma minimal, mas vai crescendo, evoluindo de forma surpreendente. Especialmente interessante é o segundo tema, com a guitarra de Mota a destacar-se, apesar da fidelidade ao registo contido, lançando pistas para outras direcções. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace.net)

Two tracks from two groupings, anchored by Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Jonathan Sielaff on bass clarinet, paired first with Vic Rawlings on cello & electronics and Leif Sundstrom on electronics; then with Gust Burns on piano and Manuel Mota on electric guitar. (Squidco)

Ernesto Rodrigues (Lisbon, August 29th 1959) has been playing the violin / viola for 50 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and free improvisation, live and in the studio.
The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and
textural elements as well as the use of extended techniques.

creativesourcesrec.com
ernesto-rodrigues.blogspot.pt
erdiscography.blogspot.pt