I’m a little late to break this news, but Jose Lencastre’s Fragment of Always is a seriously good listen. The mid-2017 release captures a series of inspired improvisations ranging from quietly sublime to eruptively ecstatic. With half of the RED trio along, Hernani Faustino on bass and Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, and Lancastre’s brother João on drums, the Nau Quartet knows when to breath fire and when to just breath.
The album starts on the lighter side, a scattering of notes from the piano, a patter of percussion, some distant honks from the sax. Slowly however the music begins to jell as loosely affiliated notes begin connecting and a group sound coalesces. The first six short tracks are all entitled ‘Aphorism 1 – 6’, and as the group slips seamlessly into the next track, ‘Aphorism 2’, they begin to patiently climb a small summit with Lencastre leading the way with elongated and searching notes. Pinheiro’ piano kicks off ‘Aphorism 4’, and rapidly covers a wide swath ground. His playing is bright and open and João responds kinetically in kind.
The title track stops me in my tracks each time: Lencastre’s staccato phrasing and the jittery syncopation of the piano and drums paves the way for a frenetic burst of from the sax. The subsequent track ‘Peculiar Landscapes’ is a complete contrast to this previous jolt of energy. Starting with the click and clack of percussive shells, the track takes a patient path until other sounds begin to emerge. Slowly the drum kit replaces the percussion devices, and the sax, piano and drums together build, with long legato tones, to a brief peak, only to then fade out. This leads to the uptempo ‘Dancing Snake’. Pinheiro and Lencastre chase each other up to the abyss, then let out a final squall of notes. The final track ‘Axis Mundi’ begins with Lencastre and Pinheiro feeling around the furthest edges, slowly gaining in confidence. Then Faustini, with a simple and effective bass line, shows the way while Joao’s percussive prowess colors his brother’s lines and pushes the group to a quick ending.
Fragments of Always is an album that you can keep coming back to and find new sounds. Lencastre balances the truly-out with the accessibly-out, the passion with the intellect, and it all makes for one hell of a listen. Paul Acquaro http://www.freejazzblog.org/2018/03/jose-lencastre-nau-quartet-fragments-of.html
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Depois de um período de ausência da cena nacional, por ter passado uns anos no Brasil, o saxofonista alto José Lencastre está de regresso, e finalmente com um protagonismo que não tinha tido antes (encontrávamo-lo, sobretudo, em grupos ad-hoc) – o seu Nau Quartet andou pela estrada durante 2016 e eis que surge o disco resultante desse périplo. Factor a realçar é que tal acontece por meio de uma editora de outro país que não o nosso (a FMR é britânica, de Essex), como vai sendo hábito com alguns dos mais interessantes projectos que por cá vão surgindo, sinalizando o interesse que pelo mundo a música criativa de Portugal actualmente gera. No quarteto – e essa é outra particularidade digna de nota – encontramos o (mais conhecido nos circuitos internacionais) irmão de José, João Lencastre, baterista, compositor e líder dos celebrados Communion. Se parecia que estavam a seguir por caminhos diferentes, as próprias evoluções pessoais de José e João Lencastre indicavam que um encontro estava iminente, e eis que agora se proporciona, para nosso prazer. Com eles estão dois membros do RED trio, o pianista Rodrigo Pinheiro e o contrabaixista Hernâni Faustino, e a mera presença de ambos indicava o que encontramos em “Fragments of Always”: uma decidida viagem pelos domínios da improvisação, integral mas com matriz solidamente enraizada no jazz.
Os primeiros minutos da “Aphorism Suite” instalam-nos numa ambiência próxima da dos álbuns de John Coltrane da década de 1960, mas não por muito tempo. As 12 faixas incluídas estão em permanente mutação, com cada uma a fazer-se valer, precisamente, pela metamorfose dos seus discursos e gramáticas, e com cada uma também a jogar uma multiplicidade de referências do passado com uma perspectiva contemporânea e de extrapolação de fórmulas e de estilos. Há sempre algo que julgamos reconhecer e algo que nos troca as voltas, seja pela maneira de tocar de José Lencastre, utilizando poucas notas e explorando-as de várias perspectivas (um pouco à semelhança de José Bruno Parrinha, mas com uma abordagem mais abrasiva), como pelo extensíssimo vocabulário de Rodrigo Pinheiro, que frequentes vezes traz a terreno vocabulários e recursos técnicos da música erudita para piano. Até a aparentemente improvável combinação entre Hernâni Faustino e João Lencastre é causa de especial agrado, carburando tudo o resto de formas pouco convencionais. A música consequente é reflexiva, e inclusive nos momentos mais intensos e agitados. Somos convidados a mergulhar dentro de nós, e não para nos inebriarmos em introspecção. Pelo contrário: ficamos permanentemente alerta e sem conseguirmos ficar quietos no sofá. O que quer dizer que este CD mexe connosco, e isso não é de todo habitual. Este ano está a ficar demasiado pequeno para tanto bom disco português, e o presente é, sem dúvida, um dos mais superlativos. Rui Eduardo Paes, Jazz.pt
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FMR continues its documentation of the vital Portuguese scene with this splendid leader disc from alto saxophonist José Lencastre. He’s joined by RED trio’s Hernani Faustino on bass and Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, with João Lencastre on drums. As a result, the music has a different feel to what a session with the RED trio might have been like. That group’s gifted young drummer Gabriel Ferrandini plays hyper-kinetic polyrhythms with light touch, whereas Lencastre has a gutsier, more expansive approach that recalls the wilder shores of spiritual jazz. On the opening ‘Aphorism Suite’ he clatters and rolls while tapping away on the ride cymbal, combining with Faustino’s probing bass and Pinheiro’s full-spectrum harmonies to create a lustrous torrent of sound. The saxophonist cuts through it all with a spicy, keening tone that lends itself to bold melodic statements and ecstatic yelps. While no one would mistake this music for African-American free jazz, the sheer energy and commitment of the players gives the opening suite an almost spiritual quality. Pinheiro’s classical inclinations come through in his approach to harmony and rhythm, but there’s nothing staid about his heady flights and complex voicings. The 17-minute ‘Fragments of Always’ is more antsy, the warm storm of the opening suite replaced with a spikier European free jazz feel. Pinheiro and Faustino elevate any session they’re involved in, but the Lencastres are clearly artists to watch. Stewart Smith http://thequietus.com/articles/23443-jazz-column-oct-banana-oil-john-chantler-steve-noble-seymour-wright-vijay-iyer-sextet
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Jazz is not a timeless music. It has had its periods like any other; some definable by style, others by recording technology. The music’s progression is a big part of its appeal. While there is plenty to distinguish the small combos of the 1930s from modern day greats like Kamasi Washington and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, jazz lovers can draw a pretty straight line between them.José Lencastre’s NAU Quartet looks pretty sharp at the modern end of that line. Featuring Lencastre on alto saxophone, Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, Hernâni Faustino on bass and João Lencastre on drums, their new disc Fragments of Always dropped Aug. 1 on FMR Records.
It is exceptional. Fifty-seven minutes of improvisational virtuosity. Lencastre’s performance will draw you in, but there’s so much more quality here. Pinheiro’s authoritative piano keeps pace and then some. And while it’s hard to imagine the two of them leaving any room for improvement, the rhythm section of Faustino and João Lencastre is spell-binding. The album opens with “The Aphorism Suite,” a six-part epic with range to spare. The other major piece here is the title track “Fragments of Always.” Like the rest of this fine album, it bears all the hallmarks of great improv jazz. It is energetic, surprising and at all times solidly united. Kevin Press https://baddpress.blog/2017/08/10/jose-lencastre-nau-quartet-fragments-of-always/
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This album builds a momentum that obliterates any melody that steps in its path. Fragments of Always is separated into tracks and given separate song titles, but this is one long extended exhalation from the José Lencastre Nau Quartet, and as it picks up speed, it starts to come from all directions. It opens with a stated melody, but the rhythmic vortex, wild and free, tears it apart, sending out fragments from time to time, more as guideposts for the path than something to hold onto and embrace.
The six-part “Aphorism” sets the tone and frames the temper. The range runs from contemplative to chaotic, and it hits most stops in between. It is captivating even at its most ferocious. There is a slight pause for breath before the 17-minute title-track bubbles to life. It hits many of the same locales as the “Aphorism” suite, but charts a vastly different course. The result is music that keeps a consistent character, but reveals its personality in an entirely different fashion.
The album’s second half features five tracks that sound like reworkings of pieces sitting square in the quartet’s rear view mirror. The peaks and valleys of “Visible Wind” recall the more dissonant moments of the “Aphorism” suite, as well as the opening moments of the title-track, whereas the calm “Axis Mundi” is a reminiscence of where it all began, with a vague memory of a melody once envisioned so long ago.
A seriously compelling album. Dave Sumner https://www.birdistheworm.com/recommended-jose-lencastre-nau-quartet-fragments-of-always/
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Fra de mest uventede steder dukker det opp nye vitnesbyrd om at det skjer mye spennende musikalsk nesten over alt. Det seineste beviset kommer fra Portugal. José Lencastre er ei interessant stemme fra Portugal. Jeg bryter sammen og tilstår at jeg aldri har hørt om verken bandlederen og altsaksofonisten José Lencastre (40), bassisten Hernâni Faustino, trommeslageren Joao Lencastre eller pianisten Rodrigo Pinheiro tidligere. Heldigvis har Lencastre hørt om Tor de Jazz og via det portugisiske postvesenet har det blitt oppretta kontakt. Siden Lencastres seineste innspilling er å finne på det engelske selskapet FMR Records, der blant andre vår egen frijazzhøvding Frode Gjerstad gir ut mye av sin musikk, så mer enn antyder det hvor Lencastre & Co befinner seg i det musikalske landskapet. Slektskapet med Gjerstad er faktisk både tydelig og betydelig. Alle de tolv “låtene” er kollektivt unnfanga. Først får vi seks aforismer – en slags suite – og så følger det seks frittstående vitnesbyrd. Sjøl om det hele er fritt, åpent og løst, så er det mye dynamikk, melodikk og ikke minst kommunikasjon på høyt nivå her. Ofte har de fire en bortimot lyrisk tilnærming til musikken, mens det i nest “låt” blir et nesten voldsomt utbrudd vi blir utsatt for. Musikken José Lencastre Nau Quartet gir oss er både styggvakker og kompromissløs. Den forteller oss at det skjer mye spennende i den andre enden av Europa også.
PS Dessuten synes jeg Trump bør avsettes så snart som mulig. Tor Hammero
http://torhammero.blogg.no/1504981774_fritt_fra_sr.html
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O saxofonista José Lencastre se uniu a seu irmão João Lencastre (bateria) e a Rodrigo Pinheiro (piano) e Hernani Faustino (baixo) – dois terços do RED trio – para uma sessão que resultou neste brilhante álbum de estreia do quarteto formado no fim de 2015. Fragments of Always é produto da esfera free jazzística, dosando com equilíbrio lirismo e energia; explica o próprio Lencastre: “Nau remete para o descobrimento do agora em formato musical improvisado”. Esse “agora improvisado” resulta em um complexo discurso sonoro, em que as quatro vozes atuam em inventiva harmonia. Apesar de ter uma discografia ainda tímida em relação a seus pares, especialmente quando comparado a Faustino e Pinheiro, Lencastre é um músico de grande vivência, que circula nos espaços do jazz, do free e da improvisação livre, tendo vivido no Brasil, em Pernambuco, onde também lidou com nossa música popular. E o que vemos aqui é a demonstração de muita maturidade expressiva por parte do saxofonista, que conduz com foco preciso o rumo tomado pelo Nau Quartet. Registrado no Timbuktu Studios, em dezembro de 2016, o álbum traz 12 temas, sendo que a primeira metade é uma suíte dividida em seis partes (“The Aphorism Suite”), que demonstra todas as nuances do quarteto e o brilho individual das quatro vozes – arrepiante o ar espiritual (algo 60’s) que emana de piano e sax na parte 2 ou o sopro arisco da parte 3 – em uma sucessão de ideias muitas vezes surpreendentes. Na segunda metade, começamos com a extensa faixa-título (17 minutos), em que o grupo exibe suas múltiplas potencialidades e referências, e encontramos nessa jornada belezas como “All Ways” e “Axis Mundi”. Estreia de grande impacto. Fabricio Vieira
http://www.freeformfreejazz.org/2017/09/sons-de-portugal-ii.html
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Twardo trzymamy się mojej ulubionej Portugalii. Czas na pure jazzowy kwartet! Pianistę Rodrigo Pinheiro i kontrabasistę Hernaniego Faustino znają chyba wszyscy, którzy choć trochę siedzą w gatunku. Zapewne inaczej jest w przypadku braci Lencastre. Joao jest perkusistą, zaś Jose saksofonistą, a przy okazji także liderem Nau Quartet, którego pierwszą płytę mam przyjemność w tej właśnie chwili recenzować. Dwanaście ścieżek, blisko godzina zegarowa studyjnej rejestracji z grudnia ubiegłego roku. Wydaje zacne FMR Records!
Pierwsze sześć utworów (all music by the musicians, ale improwizacje uprawiane wedle przygotowanych scenariuszy), to suita z krótkimi, muzycznymi Aforyzmami. Płynna narracja czterech równorzędnych partnerów, z silnymi inklinacjami do free (czy Nau w nazwie należy rozumieć, jako Now, czyli współczesny? – zapytuje dociekliwy recenzent). Kompetencji nie brakuje, bystrości i przytomności w procesie improwizacji także. Zwinne, filigranowe pasaże wprost z klawiatury fortepianu, potężny tembr kontrabasu na granicy przesteru(kanon u Faustino), uroczy sound altu, enigmatyczny i konkretny dramaturgicznie, wreszcie aktywna perkusja, dość bystra i gadatliwa. Kolejne pół tuzina kompozycji na płycie, to już odrębne, często rozbudowane opowieści, zwłaszcza 17 minutowy fragment tytułowy. Gęsta, kolektywna i bardzo sprawna improwizacja. W jedności siła, choć najwięcej do powiedzenia ma tu pianista (nawet ma wystawne solo). Ciekawie gra Jose, jakby się ślizgał po dyszach (slide sax?). Fragment kolejny, to intrygująca, molekularna ekspozycja, trochę w klimatach upalonej chamber music (z pewnością, to najlepszy fragment płyty). Tańczący wąż, tytuł kolejnej pieśni, to chyba epitet przynależny świetnie improwizującemu alciście. Saksofonista z każdą minutą płyty zwinnie się eskaluje, ma coraz więcej do powiedzenia i udaje mu się nawet zagadywać pianistę! Rozgrzany, szaleje na scenie, zdecydowanie jest już tu królem polowania. Dwa ostatnie fragmenty, to udane próby tłumienia emocji i dedynamizacji narracji. Prawdziwie jazzowa kameralistyka. Świetna robota! Andrzej Nowak
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Avec le pianiste Rodrigo Pinheiro , entendu à maintes reprises avec le trompettiste Luis Vincente, et le contrebassiste Hernani Faustino, un pilier de la scène portugaise, le saxophoniste Jose Lencastre et le percussionniste Joao Lencastre forment le Nau Quartet, un ensemble soudé, cohérent, pour un projet d’une musique « free-jazz » de la meilleure facture dans une perspective contemporaine et une profonde conscience de l’acte de jouer collectivement. L’écoute mutuelle se concentre sur le jeu de chacun en suivant des schémas subtils, le squelette que l’originalité de leurs jeux respectifs, leur empathie et les nombreuses connections timbrales, rythmiques, thématiques, scalaires, etc… étoffe et nourrit la musique de manière organique pour ouvrir des horizons enchanteurs. La démarche du soliste qui s’appuie sur riffs et pulsations est absente ici, chaque instrumentiste se posant à l’égal de l’autre dans le champ sonore et la masse orchestrale. Le souffleur et le pianiste articulent leurs phrasés sur les vagues rythmiques incessamment renouvelées, accentuées ou différées du bassiste et du batteur. Une Aphorism Suite en six mouvements balancés, à la fois étudiés et spontanés et six compositions supplémentaires : Fragments of Always, Peculiar Landscape, Dancing Snake, Visible Wind, All Ways, Axis Mundi. Leur trame est riche et son incarnation est vécue, vivifiée, assumée. Une démarche originale pour le modèle sax-piano-basse-batterie, sentier battu par tous les musiciens de (free) jazz sur tous les continents. On songe à Paul Bley et son trio avec Altschul, lorsque ceux-ci scotchés au Little Theatre Club vers 1967/68 découvrant John Stevens et Evan Parker ou Trevor Watts, enregistrèrent Ending et So Hard It Hurts suspendus dans l’abstraction. On dit qu’une bonne improvisation collective se déclare lorsque la musique du groupe va au-delà de la somme de ses parties. Le pianiste Rodrigo Pinheiro est une solide recrue qui pourrait briller aisément en tirant les marrons du feu avec sa brillante technique (en « détonnant ») , mais il s’échine à jouer dans l’esprit du quartet. Ces quatre musiciens peuvent paraître individuellement « moins » originaux que d’autres, MAIS la manière dont ils évoluent en quartet et leur étroite imbrication les distinguent de nombreux groupes proches de leur style : subtilité, équilibre et togetherness ! Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg http://orynx-improvandsounds.blogspot.pt/2017/11/steve-noble-yoni-silverivo-perelman.html