Jorge Pardo & Gil Goldstein - Brooklyn Sessions (2020)

FLUTE VIRTUOSO JORGE PARDO AND 3-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNING AMERICAN PIANIST GIL GOLDSTEIN MEET FOR MASTERFUL PERFORMANCES OF 40'S AND 50'S JAZZ STANDARDS FROM: DUKE ELLINGTON, BILL EVANS, COLE PORTER, IRVING BERLIN AND MORE

Thierry Quénum, the renowned French Jazz critic has written:

Those who know Jorge Pardo, mainly through his collaboration with Paco de Lucía or with Chick Corea, may be surprised to hear him on this record. Indeed, he only plays the flute, he only plays standards from the great American songbook, and he plays in duet with Gil Goldstein on the piano. But if Pardo records for the first in a duet setting, the standards and the flute have been part of his life for decades.

It takes quite a lot of courage to devote an entire record to the standards: Hasn’t everything already been said about such tunes as «Body and Soul», «Lush Life» or «Blue in Green»? But Pardo’s imagination as an improviser and his virtuosity on the flute manage to make us rediscover this repertoire, and shed a fresh light on their melodies and harmonic patterns.

Pardo and Goldstein never wander too far from the melody of these tunes that have a strong cantabile aspect, which allowed them to travel through time without losing their initial charm. Most of them, like «Body and Soul» or «Sophisticated Lady», are indeed associated with singers and the choice of the flute is a clever one since, in the hands of one of the great stylists of the instrument, its vocal aspect is prominent. The duet setting is ideal to make these songs shine anew and Gil Goldstein’s delicate touch and harmonic cleverness make him a perfect partner for Pardo.

Goldstein is also a great connoisseur of the standards and is an accomplished accompanist, an art he has often practiced in various setting. Even in the intimate context of the duo, his skills as an arranger contribute to giving a dynamic rendition of these tunes through his rhythmic approach of the keyboard.

So, we have here two instrumentalists whose musicianship gave a new life to some old tunes that never sounded so fresh. So, the fact that a Spanish flutist and an American pianist may have achieved such a remarkable feat is one more proof that jazz is a universal language and that its standards are timeless.

JORGE PARDO
“Perhaps music is the best, after silence, of course…
I listened many of these songs as a child thanks to the second or third generation turntables and my parents’ fondness for all kind of music …
So they are ingrained in me.
When I started playing the flute I learned them.
When my flute became flamenco I felt I could play them differently.
When I freed myself from ties I felt them this way.
When I could really play them another way, I called Gil.
When I called Gil I went to Brooklyn.
When we recorded them in Brooklyn and heard what we had done, I thought of you...
All this came together slowly, like good stews
Thanks to Emilio, Ángel and Fernando who put the conditions to pay this debt”.

GIL GOLDSTEIN
“There are some musicians that you can play with and feel immediately comfortable with, from the first time you play together; you complete one another’s thoughts, complete each other, and feel exhilarated from the exchange. Jorge Pardo is at the top of the list for me. It has nothing to do with the genre we find ourselves in; it’s about an honest and universal musical expression.

We came into the studio and played these songs, each one of them on first take, and I believe we found that spontaneous flow that you can’t manufacture or force”