Grand Valis (Clean Feed)
Hugo Carvalhais
Released May 7, 2015
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k3eKKHHhHTsqm2Q0DG8hmVuumMU5q-rT8
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7cp4HqjFK7Ws12gtMP77OV?si=qpgBEWsoQ-WYRCDNqvJZdw
About:
Portuguese bassist and composer Hugo Carvalhais never stops surprising us. After two internationally acclaimed albums with his piano (and synthesizer)-bass-drums trio complemented by guests like Tim Berne, Émile Parisien and Dominique Pifarély, here he comes again with something completely different, even if the French violinist is again involved. Now, there’s no drumset on sight, but we can’t point it as a contemporary version of chamber music because of the electronics involved: Gabriel Pinto’s keyboards and Jeremiah Cymerman’s computer processing. There’s an overall strangeness in this interpretation of the book trilogy “Valis”, by science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick, but you also feel seduced by the dreamlike sound waves. And in familiar terrain – after all, it’s still jazz, it’s still organic and it’s still vibrant and full of humanity. The bass lines breath, giving us the impression that this music is a mix of living bodies. Everything is ambiguous here, from the omnipresent retro-futuristic organ chords to the either ethereal or grainy atmospheres. It’s that paradoxical factor which keeps the mystery from start to end. When it does end you want to go to the beginning right after and solve your puzzlement, but you can’t. “Grand Valis” is a world in itself and its resistance to your reasoning is what makes you return to it again and again, trying to find out why you’re addicted.
Track Listing:
1. Exegesis (Hugo Carvalhais) 05:03
2. Logos (Hugo Carvalhais / Gabriel Pinto) 05:46
3. Oblong Emission (Hugo Carvalhais) 04:38
4. Anamnesis (Hugo Carvalhais) 03:46
5. Involution (Hugo Carvalhais) 01:51
6. Decoding Maya (Hugo Carvalhais) 04:36
7. Amigdala Waves (Hugo Carvalhais) 04:58
8. Holographic Maya (Hugo Carvalhais) 04:37
9. Digitalis (Hugo Carvalhais / Gabriel Pinto) 06:44
10. Zebra (Hugo Carvalhais) 02:40
Personnel:
Hugo Carvalhais: double bass, electronics (7, 10)
Dominique Pifarély: violin
Gabriel Pinto: organ, keyboards
Jeremiah Cymerman: electronic manipulation
Recorded January 10 – 14, 2014 at Quinta da Música, Porto, by João Ferraz
Mixed and Mastered by João Ferraz
Produced by Hugo Carvalhais
Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul
Review:
Portuguese bassist Hugo Carvalhais’ Grand Valis combines the spirit of an avant-garde church service with the feel of improvised jazz. Organist/ keyboardist Gabriel Pinto’s sound permeates 10 compositions (nine from Carvalhais, and a shared credit with Pinto on the prickly “Digitalis”) with a leavening, otherworldly sound. The other highlight, apart from some tasteful, well-placed violin from Dominique Pifarély, is Jeremiah Cymerman’s electronic manipulations, with the leader adding his own electronics to the gravity-defying techno of “Amigdala Waves” and the minimalist mystery of “Zebra.” Veering from puckish jazz counterpoint (the lively “Decoding Maya”) to classical arias (“Holographic Maya”), Grand Valis defies all categories.
John Ephland (DownBeat)
