RED trio + John Butcher – Summer Skyshift (Clean Feed Records)
Rodrigo Pinheiro piano
Hernani Faustino double bass
Gabriel Ferrandini drums
John Butcher tenor and soprano saxophone
Known for the way they manage the energy factor, going from extreme subtlety, almost near-silence, to aggressive noise making, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernâni Faustino and Gabriel Ferrandini, the members of RED trio, brought sharp ears to their presentation with John Butcher as guest during last year’s Jazz em Agosto festival. “Summer Skyshift” is the recording of that concert in Lisbon. The music is very different from that on their studio LP together, “Empire”, enabling us to discover new aspects of this project. If not serene, considering the permanent unrest of these musicians, their state of mind opened the music to an astonishing lyricism. Free and abstract as ever, but with an unusual poetic dimension. This frame was profited by Butcher in the best way, as you can testify here. The British saxophonist is a master of meditative playing, and many of his best performances have that kind of focus. During the “Empire” tours, the same John Butcher used to take his Portuguese companions out from any jazz comfort zones, but this time he accepted to be pushed in. At the end of the album, he seems in love with the phrasing and the sound of John Coltrane. When he makes the soprano saxophone sound like a flute, with Pinheiro behind him weaving a spider net with the highest notes of the piano, the only thing you can say is «Wow!». Prepare yourself for that…
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