Paul Harrison - Encontros
Genius is an overused term. In Egberto Gismonti’s case, however, it seems entirely appropriate. Advised by his Parisian mentor, the influential conductor and composer Nadia Boulanger, to write the entire Brazilian experience into his music, Gismonti went in search of traditions beyond samba and bossa nova.
As a result, his music is incredibly rich. Although it isn’t jazz, it has appealed to jazz musicians for decades. Guitar master John McLaughlin is one. Pianist Paul Harrison is another. Thoroughly versed in the jazz language through work across the spectrum from the Great American Songbook to experimental music, Harrison became besotted with Gismonti’s music and quickly realised that it needs more than an ability to shred changes to be interpreted properly.
There’s an emotional as well as an imaginative engagement in the way Harrison approaches this music. Just listen to his entrance and development of Ano Zero following bassist Mario Caribe’s intro to hear a musician putting his heart and soul into a gorgeous, already affecting composition.
Caribe now qualifies as Scottish-Brazilian, having lived more than half of his life in Scotland, and he Stu Brown, a drummer of wonderful sensitivity and musicality, have worked with Harrison in Trio Magico, an unapologetic Egberto Gismonti tribute band.
Encontros takes that tribute further, with superb contributions from Brazilian percussionist Edmundo Carneiro, alto saxophonist Laura Macdonald, a musician with experience in Venezuelan meters as well as a love of Brazilian music, and a cast including one of Scotland’s great musical nomads, low whistle master Fraser Fifield.
It’s a remarkably unified project and one that, paradoxically, is summed up by Harrison’s solo piano reading of A Fala Da Paixão. I listen to this and think of Gismonti’s infamous concert on the beach (see YouTube). A masterly and complete finale.
