Rodrigo Amado - This Is Our Language

Rodrigo Amado
This Is Our Language
Not Two Records

Rodrigo Amado – Tenor Saxophone
Joe McPhee – Pocket Trumpet, Alto Saxophone
Kent Kessler – Double Bass
Chris Corsano - Drums

This Is Our Language is a record of an engaging conversation between Amado and McPhee, with superb interjections from bassist Kessler and drummer Corsano. Of course, with musicians of this caliber, it’s really a four-way dialog, but it’s the interplay between the horns that first gets your attention. The CD begins with a murmured conversation between tenor and alto, then things heat up on the title track as McPhee switches to pocket trumpet. Amado has a grainy, almost R&B-influenced tone, while McPhee is as nuanced as I’ve ever heard him on alto. The lack of a chordal instrument gives all four musicians space, and I like the way the pieces unfold organically. There are fiery moments, but they grow naturally out of what has come before.

As with his previous Not Two album Searching For Adam, Rodrigo Amado has aligned himself with top flight musicians and the results bear fruit.

Rodrigo Amado - Wire Quartet

Rodrigo Amado

Wire Quartet 

Clean Feed

Rodigo Amado – Tenor saxophone

Manuel Mota – Guitar

Hernani Faustino – Double bass

Gabriel Ferrandini - Drums

Rodrigo Amado is a free jazz musician whose sound harks back to the classic saxophonists of the jazz tradition. His thick tone, bluesy in quieter moments and containing an R&B edge, brings to mind players like Gene Ammons and Lockjaw Davis. When things get heated, his tone takes on a grainy quality that reminds me of a young Gato Barbieri. 

His Wire Quartet is composed of bassist Faustino and drummer Ferrandini of the RED Trio; Ferrandini is also part of Amado’s Motion Trio with cellist Miguel Mira. Guitarist Manuel Mota completes the group.

The initial and longest track, Abandon Yourself, alternates between sections where everyone plays nice with each other, in sort of a free jazz version of a ballad session, and moments when things come to a full boil. Probably the most fascinating part of this track, and the record overall, is the tension of the interaction between Amado and Mota, where Amado’s rational explorations of thematic elements are juxtaposed with Mota’s frenzied finger-picking and bursts of noise.

The two shorter tracks that follow are even more compelling than the first, each providing a clearer arc of tension and release with a little more economy of expression.

You would expect the bassist and drummer of the RED Trio to be hand-in-glove, and they are, but this is Amado’s and Mota’s show. This round is a draw, and it’ll be interesting to see how things settle out should they tangle again.

Here's a video from 2007 of the group in concert, with Peter Bastiaan in place of Ferrandini.

Clean Feed Releases for April, 2014

Now listed on the Clean Feed site:

In Memory of Things Yet Seen
Eric Revis Quartet 

Wire Quartet
Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet 

II
Lawnmower II 

The Visible Ones
Matthieu Donarier / Albert van Veenendaal 

Salvation Modes
Sei Miguel 

In Memory of… will be Revis’ third for the label, and based on the other two, one I’m really looking forward to hearing. Stef’s Free Jazz Blog already has a review of it. I also have high hopes for the new Rodrigo Amado; I thought Searching for Adam from 2010 was really strong.