Egberto Gismonti / Avishai Cohen Quartet
Reflektor Manfred Eicher
The driving forces behind the work of Brazilian guitar and piano virtuoso Egberto Gismonti are the indigenous folk tradition of his native country on the one hand, and the world of classical music on the other. The soloist is a masterly improviser whose colourful playing technique and raw intensity often lend his songs an orchestral, polyphonic touch. Gismonti was born to musician parents in Carmo in Rio de Janeiro state in 1947. After studying composition in Paris, it was primarily the music of the Xingu Indians from the Amazon rain forest that influenced his musical expression. An influence that can also be heard of Gismonti’s first ECM recording, »Danca das Cabecas« (1977), where he plays together with jazz percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. Egberto Gismonti has also recorded for the ECM label in a trio together with Jan Garbarek and Charlie Haden.
With »Into the Silence«, his ECM debut as bandleader, the American-Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen embodies almost to perfection the label’s famous motto »The most beautiful sound next to silence«. An album of impressionistic, introverted compositions that Cohen dedicated to his father, who died in 2014. He found the inspiration for parts of the opening track while staying at his parents’ home immediately after his father’s death. It is a song about the silence when a loved one is no longer there, a song that gradually intensifies into a plaintive crescendo. Cohen’s muted, lyrical tone reminds one inevitably of Miles Davis, the keeper of the Grail of melancholy trumpet playing.
Performers
Egberto Gismonti guitar, piano
Avishai Cohen trumpet
Yonathan Avishai piano
Barak Mori double bass
Ziv Ravitz drums
Programme
1. Teil
Sascha and the Edens
2. Teil
Avishai Cohen, trumpet
Estimated end time
22:00
Festival
Reflektor Manfred Eicher