Indeed, Sunday 24 at the auditorium of the Superior Conservatory of the Balearic Islands It was clear why Egberto Gismonti was the headliner of the 17th Voyeur Jazz Festivalplus the attraction that it was his first visit to the island. I am taking the owner that we witnessed, exceptional witnesses, to revolutionary dialogues from a monster of virtuosity. In fact, it would be more correct to extend the plural to the monster, because Egberto Gismonti was not alone on stage. He was accompanied by his compatriot Daniel Murray.
Both come from classical education, only Murray immersed himself in modern and avant-garde repertoire, while Gismonti since its origins He put his mentor’s advice into practicepianist and conductor, Nadia Boulangerand also one of the greatest musical pedagogues of the 20th century. The advice was simple: “Trust and break the rules”. No sooner said than done. Upon his return from Paris, he went to live for a few months with the Xingu of Amazonia. Murray did something similar, at the time of his dialogues with Paulo Porto-Alegre, without forgetting his deep admiration for Gismonti, to the point of publishing, 2019 with ECM, The musical universe of Gismonti. Two songs included in the album were performed on the night of the 24th: Maracatu And Frevo.
It is important to remember this context to understand explosiveness of the sonic palette exhibited in just 80 minutes of live performance and be able to understand, at the same time, the perfect conjunction that occurred between the two. Murray’s ability to break the fret and body to go in search of a new guitar tone is wonderful, just by inserting sticks.
A brief digression to talk about it the opening actshe Trio by Pedro Rosa with two guitars, the soloist handled by Laki Pattey and wind instruments. The repertoire was shared between songs by Pattey and Rosa, who says of her style that it is intended to be “a message of hope and gentleness”. All this through a whispered and minimalist jazz which pleasantly surprised the audience. But it is clear that everyone was waiting for the moment to see the Egberto Gismonti-Daniel Murray couple take the stage, another pleasant surprise.
He the repertoire chosen for the night of the 24th was almost entirely composed of songs by Egberto Gismonti, except White and brown portrait, of Antonio Carlos Jobim (in itself an excellent reference); Miudinho dance, of Heitor Villa-Lobos (the great composer and cellist who greatly influenced the Gismonti style) and Carinhosoof Pixiguinhawho contributed to making choro a characteristic style of Brazilian instrumental music. Choro was born in the second half of the 19th century (1870) in popular music territories. A fourth theme was Saudaçoesshared with the composer and poet Paulo César Pinheiroone of the pioneers of dance music in clubs and societies between 1930 and 1950. Until the arrival of bossa nova everything has changed. Begin the path of urban instrumental music which is the basis of the birth of Brazilian jazz.
As for his own themes, he especially stood out: Dance of the Cabeças as it dates back to 1977 and his first recording for the ECM label, sharing dialogues with a percussionist as prone to fusion as Nana Vasconcelos. In short, It was 80 minutes of fiery virtuosity where touches of jazz were mixed -in fact the structure of the songs had a lot to do with free jazz-, notes on classicism and fundamentally the imprint of Traditional Brazilian music.
We are experiencing unique moments, the likes of which we have rarely seen, and despite the short duration (the show biz standard establishes 90 minutes plus encores) The audience was filled with emotions bordering on ecstasy.after having witnessed with almost disbelief a teaching with an intensity of textures, which Sometimes they brought us closer to the distant indigenous musical universe. In fact, in Egberto Gismonti’s journeys through the guitar, one could feel the murmur of the Amazon jungle. By the way, I read somewhere that Gismonti came to us with the eight-string guitar and that’s not true. He did it with the ten-string guitar, including four double basses. Hence the particular and serious sound ambiance of its evolutions, with almost improbable turns of phrase,
could be heard duets and also Gismonti on piano, developing a recital of complex harmonies, many of which owe to jazzwith the insistent use of impossible high and low registers. We witness, under the influence of the waning moon, his talent for improvisation and his dazzling technique, which makes Gismonti a practically unique musician.
