ZÉ EDUARDO UNIT – Live In Capuchos: a JazzAr – CD – CF155CD

Telling that Zé Eduardo is one of the top jazz musicians in Portugal isn’t enough to report the importance of this bassist, composer, arranger and band leader. He is also the first responsable, as a teacher and a discoverer of talents, of the existence of several generations of performers in this country and one of the great contributors for the richness of the Portuguese jazz scene. A controversial figure, acting sometimes as the local bad conscience, his musical interventions are, nevertheless, strongly humoristic. That’s specially the case with this CD: we find him playing hilarious jazz versions of some soundtracks of animated television series for children and not-so-young viewers (including “The Simpsons”), and also a couple of songs of the militant national folk and a movie cover. But joking, here, doesn’t mean a less serious investment: the music is solid and inventive. With hard bop at its matrix, the improvised solos can go to neverland. With Zé Eduardo are the Spanish tenor saxophonist Jesus Santandreu, a follower of the Coltranean ways with a voice of his own, and the versatile drummer Bruno Pedroso, at ease in every context, from “mainstream” to “avant-garde”. Have a listen.

Clean Feed Records