The Free Jazz Collective
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By Stef Gijssels
For this album, Portuguese trumpeter Luis Vicente is in the company of António M. Silva on synths, and Vitor B. Pereira on electronics.
This the ensemble's second recording, after one side of a cassette on the Faux Amis label, which I have not heard unfortunately. António M. Silva and Pereira are also performers on Bernardo Álvares' "&Fantasmas", released in 2019 by the same label, a minimalist dark drone composition for jazz and electronics ensemble.
The liner notes on this album make reference to Jon Hassell, "gone through a goth phase and set up a studio in the garage of an abandoned mall", but this falls short of describing the music. On this album, Silva, Pereira and Vicente fully co-create an electronic drone-like soundscape, not as the backdrop for the trumpet, but as a composition in its own right. Even if the context is different and darker than the settings we have heard Vicente play in during the last years, his approach to the instrument and to music remains intact. Like the synth and the electronics, the trumpet participates in a musically meaningful dialogue, creating novel sound experiences that stay away from the cheap sentiment that we hear on so many "nu jazz" trumpet albums.
Not for purists, but lots to enjoy despite the joyless atmosphere.
Listen and download from Bandcamp.