Gábor Winand was able to integrate into the playing of Gadó's quartet which over the years has become a special collaborator in the interactive practice of unbridled improvisation. This complicity has stimulated Gábor Gadó's orchestral concepts, resulting in a tight, dramatic writing and an almost theatrical distribution of roles. Here, the solo is the exception. Most often, even when the composer lets go of the reigns, there are only ever duos or three- or four-part polyphonic inventions, at times almost hoquets (a procedure in which each voice completes a phrase started by another). And the one that seems to have the most autonomy is finally the drummer. If not the conductor, he is at least the ringleader, omnipresent even when he decides to be silent.
With the addition to his quartet of the trumpet of Airelle Besson, one of the most brilliant heirs of the post-Miles style invented by Kenny Wheeler, Gábor Gadó integrates this new ensemble to a larger formation that he controls like a true chamber orchestra. Rejecting redundancy to the extent of using unison, around Winand's exceptional voice he forms a supremely delicate balance between cohesion and contrast. The volume pedal of the guitar, the reeds and the trumpet illuminate the voice by turns, constantly throwing a different light upon it through the diversity of sympathetic resonances shared by instrumentalists and singer. The flashes of violin, the swirling spume of the saxophone, the dirty sound of the guitar on the overloaded amplifier, the bustling of the cymbals and pitched drums give dynamic to the pastel colours, streaking them with harmonics, making them fractured and angular. The trombone, the double bass and bass drums give a basis to this, which however still plays on the menacing weight of timbres and interplay of rhythms. The voice is central, yet it merges in this palette of sound, by virtue of an unusual flexibility which often makes it seem a veritable musical instrument. (Franck Bergerot)

Track Listing

• Haiku
• Tribute to Sylvia Plath
• Opera Budapest
• A long way down
• Orpheus and Eurydice
• The language of flowers
• Milonga
• All souls

Additional Details

Label: BMC Records

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 55 mins

Release Date: 08/23/06

UPC: 5998309301247