Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva, Mario Franco, Samuel Rohrer - Brightbird; +Remixes (2017)

João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Mário Franco and Samuel Rohrer together combine all the qualities that are currently making this most classical chamber-music format of jazz so successful.

"Intuitive understanding, transparent flows of communication between the musicians, their actions and reactions, soloistic sequences that continue the balanced flow of sounds, as well as musical culture and noblesse. This trio does not boast but trusts the spaces between the notes. Yet its music develops a pull, gently insisting, that becomes ever more plausible.

Nobody in this trio acts in an authoritarian way. Everything breezily interlinks following a collective thought; catchy, sometimes almost song-like and always of iridescent beauty. The trio is not defined by melodic bliss, melancholy or the pure pursuit of harmony. It searches in the openness of improvisation, dispensing with ready-made intentions for a piece or composition. It transforms what is found into concise sonic images, which maintain rigour and concentration because they do not become unruly under the musicians’ fingers. Themes are illuminated without being overworked. Subtle free flights of fancy are interwoven.

There is lyrical introspection as well as an intricate groove, and everything occurs far away from routine. The catchy never descends into the banal, it always retains this beautiful openness to the ideas of the other. This balanced music has no need to pound or harass. It develops its strength from congenial casualness. Improvised bagatelles add together to form an unobtrusive bath of sound because no-one feels the need to exhibit their virtuosity. This creates a magical triangle.

The playing of pianist João Paulo Esteves da Silva is shaped by the worlds of jazz and fado, classical and folklore. Virtuosity yes, but soulful depth is even more important to him. He sensitively lets the genres metamorphosize into each other and sometimes acts withdrawn, to then celebrate sensitive eruptions again or allow his lines to effervesce. For him, emotionality has nothing to do with volume. His publications range from solo CD to big band. He is always looking for interconnections to other arts, to film, to t heatre and is publishing regularly his own books and poetry.

In such contexts, bassist Mário Franco is also an ideal choice for the line-up. As a musician at home also in the classical repertoire, his warm, smooth sound is now enormously in demand, which has made him a playing partner of well-known jazz musicians. He also performs as a dancer and composes for ballet, theatre and film.

Playing in comparable trios, the Swiss citizen of the world and urbane nomad Samuel Rohrer is one of the influential improvisational musicians of his generation and has gained the experience required for this intuitive communication with double bass and piano. He once again proves to be a sensitive listener who, as an actively intervening player, can increase and comment on the flow of ideas and keep it going.

This album is not an umpteenth variant on the plethora of piano trios but leaves the pure jazz idiom to stride across further territories: wide awake and lost in dreams."

Tracklist:
01. - The Fireplace
02. - Sun
03. - Trusting Heart/ Cosmos
04. - Renewal
05. - Winter
06. - Bird
07. - Noontide
08. - Waking
09. - Uncertain Steps
10. - Oldness
11. - There Were Shadows
12. - Waves
13. - So much water so much green

Brightbird Remixes
01. Max Loderbauer; Joao Paulo Esteves Da Silva; Mário Franco; Samuel Rohrer - Trusting Heart/Cosmos (Max Loderbauer Remix) (6:44)
02. Max Loderbauer; Joao Paulo Esteves Da Silva; Mário Franco; Samuel Rohrer - Noontide (Max Loderbauer Remix) (10:38)