Noise, loose, free-ish jazz out of Mar de Plata, Argentina where new music has become explosive these past years.
The trio was formed in January 2020. In April of the same year they released their first album, “Correspondencia”, through the label Discos ICM. The group's axis is the interaction between written material and improvisation (trying to blur the limit between these two concepts) and the search for different and new timbral possibilities as a structural part of the compositions.
For this second work, the compositions are, for the most part, small fragments of written music, from which emerge various moments of improvisation that complete their form. We can listen to an aesthetic exploration that ranges from noise on “N1” or rock on “N2”, to situations of free improvisation on “Onírica” (the only song on the album composed for quintet) or the mantric “La Culpa”, in which the only guide is the search for a “tribal” sound. Finally, the album features "(El) Bosque" and "Labios", two songs with a format that resembles more to that of the Standard trio.
About the Tunes:
For this second album there were two main concepts used as a guide or reference. First, some gestures or postures connected with the grunge sound of the 90s band Nirvana. Secondly, the idea of improvising without having to follow an harmonic sequence (as it is traditionally done in jazz) which led to new timbrical and interactional possibilities. The conjunction of these two main aesthetical intentions was what ended up generating the form of the compositions: most of them (except for “N2”) work as sketches of a few bars that are enriched and enlarged with individual or collective improvisation.
¿How to use improvisation as a form-generator and discursive mechanism?
While trying to find an answer for this question we came up with a compositional decision as an answer. Taking into account the fact that this group is a leader-less trio, we thought that it would be interesting to give every instrument the same improvisational importance (despite some conventions adopted in order to maintain some connections with our jazz roots).
Another key-element was the search for a dreamlike sonority in the whole repertoire, evidenced in the guitar audio with a very surrounding delay.
Finally, the last characteristic that is worth mentioning is the coexistence of many different time signatures that provide rhythmic richness and complexity to the album.
“N1” The album starts with this door-kicking tune that begins as a collective improvisation related to the noise aesthetic. Loads of loud activity on the drums and bass work as a forefront background for the guitar, which uses the tremolo arm and Wah Wah referring to the sound achieved by Jimmy Hendrix in Third storm from the sun. Near the end of this moment a sudden change leads to 8 bars of a pop melody over a dark harmonic sequence that alternates different time signatures and uses modal interchange. This resounding end emulates a typical Nirvana´s chorus.
“(el) Bosque” This piece starts that dreamlike aesthetic search previously mentioned. As an introduction, a double bass solo emerges over on cue arpeggios in 16th notes on the guitar. The tempo is close to a rubato feeling with fermatas. The drums join this section by playing some small and colourful effect sounds on the cymbals. The following harmonic sequence is extracted from what later on (by the end) is going to be the theme of the tune. As a conclusion of the introduction a 11/4 vamp comes in. Here the guitar gradually takes a protagonist role improvising with material from a melody that we haven´t heard yet but announcing its arrival. Finally, the so long awaited theme of the piece arrives in 7/4 over an ambiguous harmony full of sus2 chords and sequences of “Constant Structures”.
“La Culpa” Continues this idea of reverie where there´s no written material and the only guide for interaction is the search for a tribal sound. There are no drums but just two different percussion instruments that are used to create the main 4-bar loop over which the guitar enters with open tuning (C9 Lydian: C-G-E-F#-B-D). The role of the double bass oscillates between free improvisation looking for timbrical textures with the bow and the creation of a rhythmic pattern that induces the listener into a dark introspective journey concluding with the opening percussion loop.
“N2” Again, an explicit reference to Kurt Cobain’s songs but this time everything was composed not just as sketches but as more detailed instrumental parts. The introduction starts with a duo between double bass and guitar playing the first melody in unison while the drums play intermittently a rock-like groove. This main melody makes its first appearance in 4/4 but then mutates into a 7/8 groove with an added 15/8 bar. The harmony of this section is a combination of modal interchange and augmented chords in order to achieve a sonority as close to grunge as possible. Improvisation is characterised by a transitional section led by the bass over which the guitar plays something melodically free but with a defined rhythmic ostinato. Here the drums play the same intermittent gesture of the beginning with different grooves. Finally the piece returns to the main melody in 7/8.
“Labios” It is the brightest composition of the album, it could be defined as a song in G major (with the diminished 6th as a little colour delicacy) in which the trio insteracts in a more traditional way: the guitar has the very mellow melody while the drums and double bass play a G pedal-ostinato in 3/4 that they slowly and progressively abandon. First solo is played by the guitar and deploys an intense use of scales taking advantage of the background pedal in the bass. A B section full of sus2 chords connected with no tonal conception follows. Last solo is played by the double bass which combines improvisation with recalls of the melody. This characteristic is extremely important because the solo superpouses with a final appearance of the first section. Another important feature is the active role of the drums, improvising constantly over the form of the song.
“Onírica” It gives the album its name. It’s also the only one as a quintet (featuring a pianist and a saxophonist), the darkest and the one that explores more profoundly that reverie and dreamlike sensation transposed to music. It intensively uses the symmetric diminished scale. The guitar begins improvising with fragments of what will be the theme while the drums gradually join improvising with growing intensity as well as the piano, which plays a polychord arpeggio of C/Gb. Finally, the saxophone weaves in with the guitar playing a melody in unison but quickly starts a very Coltrane-like raging solo. Four bars of solo piano chords work as a separation between sections A and B. In B a bass and piano riff build the background for a new melody, again played by guitar and saxophone. It is important to point out that the piano solo before the recapitulation of A overlaps with the beginning of theme B evoking the structure of dreams, where linearity is always interrupted by some disruptive action.
Gastón de la Cruz: Guitarist and composer, born in Mar del Plata in 1988. He has released 6 albums to date. "Triptico" 2011 and "Diagonales" 2015 with the group Ert, "Proyecto RTM vol I" with Proyecto Reutemann 2017, "AfroBeats" with Niki Lauda Afrobeat orchestra 2017, "Continuum" 2019 as a soloist, “Correspondencia” 2020 with de la Cruz - Sampaoli - Flores Catino. He is currently perfecting his Jazz career at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory.
Nahuel Flores Catino: Drummer and composer, born in 2001 in Mar del Plata. From 2016 to 2018 he was the drummer of the ICM jazz orchestra which performed in the most relevant cultural spaces of the city accompanying some of the main national jazz artists. In mid-2019, together with Sofía Karpinskyj, he began the creation and management of the "Silvia Malbrán" Chamber Music Cycle. At the end of that year he had the role of promoter and founder of the Contemporary Music collective "Ars Omnium", which brings together young composers and performers. Within this group and within the mentioned cycle he has presented two works of his authorship. In 2020 he participated, with the trio de la Cruz - Sampaoli - Flores Catino, in the recording of the album "Correspondencia", which has two compositions of his own. He is currently studying the Bachelor of Musical Arts with an orientation in Orchestral Conducting at UNA.
Valentino Sampaoli: bassist (upright and electric) and composer. Born in 1996 in La Plata. Since 2011 he has been part on the jazz scene of his city. He was the bass player of Bernardo Casagrande Quinteto, Matías Martin Hargo Grupo, Cribas, Fermín Ferraris Cuarteto and His own group Valentino Sampaoli Cuarteto and Trio. From 2016 to 2019 he studied a Jazz carrera on Conservatorio Manuel de Falla. On oct-2017 he participated in a jazz recidency with Michael Formanek playing his music in the CCK (Centro Cultural Néstor Kirchner). On July-2018 he realesed his first single called ‘alivio’ with his trio. And next year he realesed some audiovisual production recorded on a live set with his Cuartet. In 2019 he moved to Buenos Aires city, same years he recorded his first álbum as a composer and producer called “arquetipos y esplendores” realased in 2020 by Club Del Disco as a label.
1. N1 01:56
2. Bosque 05:49
3. La Culpa 05:09
4. N2 07:35
5. Labios 07:36
6. Onírica 06:51
Gastón de la Cruz: guitar & composition
Valentino Sampaoli: double & electric bass
Nahuel Flores Catino: drums & percussion
Guests:
José Marín: soprano saxophone (on Onírica)
Ornella Contreras: piano (on Onírica)
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jorge Petta in January of 2021 in Mar del Plata, Argentina in Streamhome Studio.
