# New musics from Gilfema, Luciana Souza, Kurt Elling and Jimmy Greene: Videos, Sounds, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/03/31/new-musics-from-gilfema-luciana-souza-kurt-elling-and-jimmy-greene-videos-sounds-photos/
- Published: 2020-03-31T12:38:43+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Here is some brand-new music with the lift we all need.**

Gilfema, “Têkê”

Several weeks ago, before it was considered a rare privilege to experience live 
music in a club, I caught a dynamic, absorbing set by Gilfema. A collective trio
with a history that goes back some 20 years — to a time when guitarist Lionel Loueke,
bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth all met at the Berklee College
of Music — Gilfema has always been a marvel of shifting rhythm and near-telepathic
group intuition.

The set I saw, at Jazz Standard, had Eric Harland in place of Nemeth on drums: a
more-than-acceptable substitution that produced a new alchemy. But Harland took 
care not to disrupt the unique mechanics of the trio, so it still felt recognizably
like Gilfema, with Biolcati’s spidery bass lines and Loueke’s restive, radiant guitar
work met with a web of African-inspired polyrhythm.

[[

The set featured music from a new album, _Three, _which will be released this Friday
on the Sounderscore label. And along with a hypnotic arrangement of the Jimi Hendrix
classic “Little Wing,” one of the highlights was an original called “Têkê,” in bubbling
13/8 meter.

Luciana Souza, “Matita Perê”

_Storytellers, _a resplendent new album by Luciana Souza, feels like the realization
of a long-held dream. It’s a program of beloved Brazilian songs that Souza has probably
been singing all her life, though not often in such extravagant luxury — with the
WDR Big Band Cologne, conducted and arranged by Vince Mendoza.

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The heart of the album is this song by Antônio Carlos Jobim, named after a mystical,
cuckoolike bird of the Brazilian rainforest. “It is Jobim’s tribute to the vast 
and relentless presence of nature in Brazil,” Souza observes in the album liner 
notes. She’d probably be the first to acknowledge the extent to which this version
pays homage to [the original recording](https://youtu.be/Yb1rYVBNaF8), which Jobim
made with orchestrator Claus Ogerman in the early 1970s. (The fine soprano saxophone
solo is by Johan Hörlen.)

Jimmy Greene, “Overreaction”

Let’s get this out of the way first: when he decided to title this piece “Overreaction,”
saxophonist Jimmy Greene wasn’t referring to public response to the spread of coronavirus.
The track was recorded one year ago for Greene’s 11th album, _While Looking Up_,
which Mack Avenue will release on Friday.

“Overreaction” is a post-bop tune that simmers at a low boil, highlighting not only
Greene’s rhythmically assured improvising on tenor but also the intelligent aplomb
of a top-shelf rhythm section: pianist Aaron Goldberg, guitarist Lage Lund, bassist
Reuben Rogers, drummer Kendrick Scott. Note how the band balances intensity and 
restraint throughout this performance — articulating a sense of explosive energies
kept under tenuous control.

Kurt Elling Featuring Danilo Pérez, “Overjoyed”

Back in January, WBGO helped spread the news that Kurt Elling had made a collaborative
album with Danilo Pérez. That album, _Secrets Are the Best Stories, _will be released
this Friday on Edition Records. Last Friday, in a friendly nudge, the label dropped
a surprise bonus single: a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed.”

[[

Their arrangement, set in gentle 7/4 time, capitalizes on Elling’s gift for expressive
precision; hear how he works with the subtle shift in dynamics during the first 
iteration of the bridge. On alto saxophone, first playing obbligato and then an 
effective 16-bar solo, is Miguel Zenón.

Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio, “Everything I Love”

I began this week’s Take Five by remembering a guitar trio gig at Jazz Standard,
and I’ll end by lamenting another one. The Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel
was scheduled to appear at the club in a couple of weeks with bassist Scott Colley
and drummer Brian Blade, in celebration of their excellent new album on ECM, titled
_Angular Blues. _That engagement, like most of the April calendar, has been canceled;
one hopes that it will be rescheduled for a saner time.

Until then, at least we have _Angular Blues_, a worthy addition to an ECM lineage
that includes classic albums by John Abercrombie and Terje Rypdal. Consider the 
pristine melodic clarity and buoyant feel that Muthspiel brings to Cole Porter’s“
Everything I Love,” and the way that his band mates subtly turn up the output as
his solo moves along. (Blade switches from brushes to sticks just before 1:30, and
I think the swinging 4/4 section that ensues could be considered non-prescription
medicine for the soul.)

![Gilfema -- Massimo Biolcati, Lionel Loueke, Ferenc Nemeth -- revels in unity on'
Three.'](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/202003/
gilfema_outdoors.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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