CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 820, Lisbon 2024
1. I - 25'07''
2. II - 22'19''
3. III - 12'40''
Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola & Crackle Box
Carlos Bechegas - Piccolo, Flute & Alto Flute
João Madeira - Double Bass
Monsieur Trinité - Percussion
Recorded April 2024, Lisbon
Cover design Carlos Santos
Reviews
After A tale unfolds (reviewed here last month), Ernesto Rodrigues & João Madeira return again, also with Monsieur Trinité, for Free to Open (recorded in Lisbon earlier this month). For this live outing from the Creative Sources Cycle, instead of adding three musicians (including two clarinetists) to the quintet lineup on their "instant classic" Dérive (yielding consequent, smoother textures as an octet...), they instead pare down to a quartet (i.e. minus cello) with Carlos Bechegas (piccolo, flute & alto flute). So whereas when reviewing Open in Finder (with Madeira & Bechegas) last November, I'd noted the long gap in the flautist's discography, thinking the release was an unusual event, there was already Secrets under Trees (with Rodrigues, both of these first new trio releases adding cello...), and then soon after, Echoing the Chorus of Life (also reviewed here last month) with Rodrigues & Bechegas & Carlos Santos on electronics.... Now there's yet more, and Free to Open comes off as a relatively experimental outing, sometimes in more static or repetitive textures, but also striving for new combos, including with Rodrigues increasingly featuring crackle box (alongside viola) for what can eventually seem like some vocalizing passages (alongside some throatier flute as well... & perhaps some other electric "small toys" from Trinité?). And note e.g. that Bruno Parrinha already played quite a bit of flute (alongside his usual clarinet) on Dérive, so the substitution here of Bechegas is not as big an ensemble shift as it might even appear. (And speaking further of clarinet, let me also mention now another new quartet album from Rodrigues: Xafnikes synantiseis pairs Floros Floridis — born 1952, returning to Creative Sources already following Fields, as also reviewed here last month — with a string trio, recalling the first Lisbon String Trio "guest" album K'Ampokol Che K'Aay at times, the former recorded also last month in Berlin.... These kinds of ensembles have certainly become more frequent in improv over the past few years....) And the first track on Free to Open does open with an attractive & quiet pointillism then, recalling portions of Dérive, indeed employing various of the wavelike exchanges that've become a feature of Rodrigues albums lately, but in turn also unusually opening to more in the way of soloing, with the second track then bringing more linear, layered or banded interactions. There's again various zoomimesis involved, including into a sort of jungle vibe (becoming industrial-hybrid at times too). Both there and in the shorter final track (of this hour+ session), senses of building up materials over time are involved as well, yielding more extended arcs & independence of line (i.e. with lighter harmonic fill...). There's a general opening of texture, but also more in the way of stasis at times, perhaps stormy (e.g. with roiling bass...), but more often tending toward sparseness or setting melodic line against melodic line. Free to Open thus does feel as though it's an "opening" for this intriguing quartet (& I have to wonder if it's implying the term "open improv" as well...), beginning from other recent work, but also soon striving for novel textures, moving into the unknown.... Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts
Plus de cent-cinquante références sur son propre label depuis le début du siècle et plus d’une quinzaine jusqu’à présent en 2024 : le violoniste et violoniste alto Ernesto Rodrigues, né à Lisbonne en 1959, n’est pas en manque de représentativité, bien que sa présence sur les scènes internationales de l’improvisation libre soit, sauf si je me trompe, inversement proportionnelle à cette profusion enregistrée. C’est dommage car le musicien développe, dans une optique principalement chambriste de la musique improvisée, une richesse de textures et de techniques étendues tout à fait remarquable. Ce qui distingue « Free to Open » est la rencontre avec un autre vétéran de la scène lisboète, le flutiste Carlos Bechegas, trop longtemps absent des radars, le contrebassiste Joao Madeira lui ayant remis le pied à l’étrier sur son label 4DArecords en 2023 pour Open in Finder, en compagnie du violoncelliste Ulrich Mitzlaff. Carlos a eu la chance de participer à des workshops de Steve Lacy et Evan Parker. Il a enregistré avec Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, Barry Guy, Michel Edelin, André Goudbeek, Peter Jacquemyn, Alexander von Schlippenbach. On n’a pas oublié son stupéfiant cd solo Flute Landscapes de 1998.
Enregistré en quartet avec Joao Madeira à la contrebasse et le discret Francisco da Trindade (alias Monsieur Trinité) aux percussions, Free to Open alterne des moments riches de tension contenue et quelques débordements conjoints des plus roboratifs. Tout au long, le tranchant de la flûte et des violons crée un dialogue des plus stimulants. Claude Colpaert (Revue & Corrigée)
[…] Slightly less musically promiscuous is the band on Free to Open, made up of bassist João Madeira, flutist Carlos Bechegas, percussionist Monsieur Trinité and Ernesto Rodrigues playing viola and crackle box, all, of whom are Portuguese. Consistent with the CD’s title, the disc’s three tracks are dedicated to the freest of transformative creative music
[…] The infrequent becomes commonplace on Free to Open as the Portuguese crew members expand their instruments’ limit as they improvise. Bechegas’ switch among flute, alto flute and piccolo adds transverse variety as does the ratcheting and brittle timbres from Rodrigues’ crackle box. Since Monsieur Trinité’s percussion scrapes, metallic echoes and abrasive clanks are even less beat-oriented than Duscombs’ pulse with The Bedmakers, and the purrs and ratcheting emanating from the crackle box are even less prominent, it’s the string players frequent sul ponticello slices and the flutist’s dissonant twitters that define the group’s architecture.
Taking an opposite tack from Kane, Madeira’s bass strategy is most often arco and potently linked to angled spiccato or below-the-bridge scoured squawks. This leaves the linear movement to Bechegas, who is most attuned to lighter-than-air flutters and melodious purrs. He also contributes to the program’s oscillations, angles and sonic pivots when lining up his triple-tongued upward squeaks or aviary piccolo peeps with Rodrigues’ descending string stops, strops and rustling slides. Intertwined hollow flute puffs and buzzing woody abrasions marks the climax, as textures become quieter and more distant. […] Ken Waxman - Jazzword (https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/rodrigues-bechegas-maderia-trinite/)
On the active and experimental side of Creative Sources' acoustic configurations organized by label leader and violist Ernesto Rodrigues, this energetic chamber quartet with Carlos Bechegas on piccolo, flute & alto flute, Joao Madeira on double bass and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, explore the three-part title work through rapid action and highly textured reflection. (Squidco)
