André Carvalho - Of Fragility and Impermanence

Label: Robalo, 2025

Personnel - Andre Carvalho: double bass; José Soares: alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Raquel Reis: cello; Samuel Gapp: piano; João Hasselberg: electronics.

Inspired by parenthood, a series of life changes that led to self-discovery, as well as memories of his own childhood, Portuguese bassist and composer André Carvalho releases Of Fragility and Impermanence, a collection of 12 tracks that firmly situates itself on the left side of the jazz spectrum. Throughout his career, Carvalho—who lived in New York for seven years—has consistently demonstrated his strengths as a composer, leader, and sideman. More recently, he has devoted time to film scoring, earning several awards in the process.

The fascinating “A Galope” opens the album, foregrounding electronics and shaping its ebb and flow through counterpoint and carefully paced motion. Rooted in contemporary classical music, jazz experimentalism, and the fertile space between them, the piece builds toward a vibrant rhythmic current before receding quietly. Carvalho’s trenchant arco work and Samuel Gapp’s expansive piano gestures are especially striking here. “Dentes de Leite” follows as a vaporous ballad whose poised elegance is matched by its sophisticated 3+3+2 pulse.

The quintet’s unconventional instrumentation serves the poignant “Dores de Crescimento”, an ambient piece grounded in cello legato, bass, and electronics, and crowned by serene piano lines and José Soares’ drifting, ethereal saxophone. Channeling modern classical figures such as Ives, Mompou, and Debussy, the piece also reflects a modal sensibility reminiscent of English saxophonist John Surman. “Echoes” leads us into a strange yet quietly magical realm, balancing serenity, ambiguity, and emotion, and evoking a cinematic surrealism through contrasting timbres and softly undulating waves of warmth.

“Infância” stands confidently on its own as a feature for bass and saxophone, their reciprocal dialogue lightly veiled by a thin haze of electronics. It recalls the classically inflected work of Tuxedomoon’s Steven Brown. “The Journey of Kanji Watanabe”—named after the protagonist of Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952)—unfolds with pure elegance, offering a minimalist, contemplative meditation on bodily fragility, illness, and death. A related sense of vulnerability permeates the floating chamber atmosphere of “Trica de Irmãos”, though expressed differently: here, a gentle tenderness emerges through measured restraint, carried by Soares’ lyrical bass clarinet and Carvalho’s sensitive bass solo. By contrast, “No Man Ever Steps in the Same River Twice…” adopts a more energetic stance, driven by contrapuntal and parallel lines and taut, staccato-laced passages.

Flawlessly arranged, Of Fragility and Impermanence is emotive and layered without becoming ponderous. The ensemble plays as a true collective, bringing Carvalho’s vision to life with honesty, musical depth, and imagination. It is an album to be discovered slowly, preferably in the quiet of the night.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Galope ► 03 - Dente de Leite ► 04 - Dores de Crescimento ► 08 - No man ever steps in the same river twice…

Andre Carvalho - Lost in Translation

Label: Outside in Music, 2021

Personnel - André Carvalho: double bass; José Soares: alto saxophone; André Matos: guitar.
Guest - João Almeida : trumpet

André Carvalho, a clever composer and sturdy bassist originally from Lisbon, has been based in New York for seven years now. After getting critical acclaim with his previous album, The Garden of Earthly Delights, he blazes a new trail in a record mostly performed in the trio format - alongside saxophonist José Soares and NY-based guitarist André Matos, and with guest appearances by trumpeter João Almeida. Comprising 12 tracks, Lost in Translation channels the bassist’s interest for untranslatable words, an inspiration for the sounds and moods conveyed on the album.

“Luftmensch” (meaning dreamer in Yiddish) and “Kilig” (a Tagalog word related to when something romantic or idealistic occurs) set the tone as the group creates certain ambiances that walk the tightrope between modern composition and spontaneous exploration. The former number invests in tranquility but doesn’t stop from searching via nuanced ostinatos, texture-minded guitar work with polyphonic intention, saxophone trills, and impeccably synced movements. In turn, the latter selection has its peaceful tones disturbed by Matos’ wired clustered chords while the bowed bass and the saxophone perform side by side. 

This conscious avant-garde setting is extended to “Goya”, which explores further oblique angles and leans harder into jagged edges through distorted guitar and the interaction between Soares and Almeida. Their horns join forces again on “Karelu”, a piece brimming with melodic exclamations and whose static foundational overture is reshaped into a definitive celebratory dance. The ruggedness that comes from Matos’ electronic effects are turned into chiming and ringing tones on “Resfebar”, which he fills with excellent guitar voicings. This composition displays a strong central melodic idea to express the mixture of anxiety and anticipation (of a traveler) that the Swedish word in question refers to. Also based on a Swedish word, “Mangata” embraces a more defined song format as it uses folk and modern classical tinges to depict the road-like reflection of the moon in the water.  

Carvalho employs his poignant, well-developed arco sound here, which also entirely shapes “Boketto” and introduces “Uitwaaien”. The latter flows with a nice, levitating pulse before being slightly rockified by monstrous bass plucks in its final section.

Although not every track touches us deeply, Carvalho’s new trio has its own musical vernacular, binding sounds with a cultivated purpose and non-obvious directions.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Kilig ► 07 - Karelu ► 11 - Resfebar

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Andre Carvalho - The Garden of Earthly Delights

Label: Outside in Music, 2019

Personnel - Jeremy Powell: tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet; Eitan Gofman: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Oskar Stenmark: trumpet, flugelhorn; Andre Matos: guitar; Andre Carvalho: double bass; Rodrigo Recabarren: drums, percussion.

After two well-succeeded albums released in his native country, Portuguese bassist/composer Andre Carvalho raises the bar with a new studio album made in New York, the city he has been living since 2014. Eleven new compositions/movements constitute the suite inspired by Bosch’s famous triptych oil painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, whose enigmatic intentions and visual awe are transported to the music. Carvalho convened the same creative sextet he has been gigging with for a while now. The three-horn frontline composed of trumpeter Oskar Stenmark and saxophonists Jeremy Powell and Eitan Gofman is on the same wavelength of the adaptable rhythm section that affiliates guitarist Andre Matos and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren to the bandleader.

The album’s opener, “Prelude”, feels quite cinematic on the point of probing a mystifying scenario. Unyielding bow work, cautious guitar, and ponderous unison lines coalesce into a lethargic pace well founded on a 6/4 time signature. Bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, and trumpet infuse just the right amount of exoticism and freedom in this extraordinary invitation that leads to the luxurious “The Fool of Venus”, which hooks up a vivid guitar ostinato turned into groove by the bassist. The horn section contributes both aligned and crisscrossed lines within a sumptuous mix of Eastern and Western musical confluences that, on occasion, brings to mind the quintet of Dave Holland. Stenmark is the featured soloist on this tune, demonstrating versatility and range.

Recabarren’s resourceful drumming comes to prominence on “The Fountain”, where the gentle flute melodies contrast with the dizzy-spells caused by Matos’ effects-drenched guitar. Also immersed in a cool poise, “Dracaena Draco” smoothly transits from a collective passage to a 2-minute bass narration.

Like the painting that inspired it, the music is rich in detail and contrast. Take, for example, the modern flair and playfulness initially offered on “Of Mermaids and Mermen”, and then the ruptures and suspensions that follow them. The polyphonic instrumentation slowly takes us to Gofman’s saxophone supplications, accompanied by sparse guitar liquidity and unabashed drumming, and later adorned with horn fills. Thereupon, the tension is brought down considerably with “Cherries, Brambles and Strawberries”, which follows a more traditional song format, softened by sax-guitar melodicism and Recabarren’s propelling brushwork. After a well-developed story told by Powell, Matos brings his guitar forward with a solo bathed in an equipoised solution of bluesy rock and rustic folk jazz.

Showcasing distortion-laden sounds, the guitarist is also in evidence on energetic rock pieces such as “Evil Parade”, a mixed-meter composition that couples 3/4 and 5/4 time signatures while having trumpet and tenor alternating bars, and “The Forlorn Mill”, a hard rock-meets-jazz excursion with delightfully accented phrases. With the horns on the loose and the rhythm section mutating the substructure without breaking it, this sounds very avant-gardish.

Knowing exactly what he wants, Carvalho reveals a strong identity as a composer. His decisiveness is on display throughout a work that brims with a fresh contemporary spin.

Grade A

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Prelude ► 08 - Evil Parade ► 10 - The Forlorn Mill

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