Gui Duvignau - Baden (January 21, 2022 Sunnyside Records)

The music of Brazilian guitarist and composer Baden Powell has enchanted listeners for decades. His ability to combine elements of jazz, classical, and Brazilian folkloric music into his own singular genre that was spoken only on his nylon string, acoustic guitar has maintained his quiet legend status throughout the world.

Born in France, but raised in Brazil, bassist/composer Gui Duvignau was drawn to the music of Baden Powell through his Brazilian guitarist friends, who all considered Powell a fundamental figure in the worlds of Brazilian music and acoustic guitar. During his own guitar study, Duvignau asked friends for pointers and they continually referred him to Powell’s techniques. Further exploration of Powell’s repertoire led the bassist to the revelations provided by the fantastic music of the guitarist.

Years of studying and performing the music of Baden Powell led Duvignau to the idea of developing a recording celebrating the great guitarist. Duvignau’s new recording, Baden, uses Powell’s beloved songs as a foundation for explorative interpretations and improvisations from Duvignau’s fantastic ensemble, along with two highly esteemed guests, Ron Carter and Bill Frisell.

As a well-studied musician, Duvignau was astounded by Powell’s classical-honed technique and ability to communicate across genres. The guitarist’s music was a breath of fresh air and there was a sense of the spiritual in everything that Powell played, including the many interpretations he made of religious music of Brazil’s African-derived religions, like Candomblé and Umbanda. The guitarist was unique as he looked more toward the influences of samba rather than the bossa nova style that was popular at the time.

Duvignau felt that the best way to pay tribute to Powell was to play his music as openly as possible; not try to make a recording that was a Brazilian jazz record. Thus, Duvignau pointed this out to the musicians that he wanted to play with as he knew they could take the music anywhere. He welcomed back two mentors and friends who had appeared on his previous recording, 3, 5, 8, woodwind master Billy Drewes and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. Duvignau also recruited fellow Berklee alum, pianist Lawrence Fields, a great bandmate and consummate professional.

To make the project even more special, Duvignau invited his mentor Ron Carter to participate on a track. The bassist also recruited the great guitarist Bill Frisell to add his brilliant tones to a number of the pieces.

The recording begins with Powell and Vinícius de Moraes’s “Canto de Ossanha,” perhaps Powell’s most well-known piece and one that Duvignau felt necessary to include. Here the tune’s mysterious then upbeat nature is carried by Frisell’s guitar and Drewes’s lithe soprano sax. Another Powell and de Moraes collaboration from their Os Afro Sambas record, “Canto de Xangô” is a waltzing piece inspired by Candomblé ritual music that was passed down from West Africa. Fields’s piano solo is especially inspiring here. Duvignau scaled the band down to a trio with Frisell and Hirshfield for “Tristeza e Solidão,” his resonant bass work blending beautifully with Frisell’s unmistakable guitar.

Duvignau wrote “Ao Baden” when he first discovered Powell’s music and is loosely based on the chord changes of “O Astronauta.” Luiz Gonzaga and Humberto Teixeira’s “Asa Branca” is a bluesy piece that Powell recorded frequently. Duvignau wrote the blues piece “Bluesa Preta” to introduce it and be performed with Mr. Carter in a moving duo. The impressionistic “Canto de Iemanjá” is another piece from Os Afro Sambas and provides a magical setting for Drewes over Fields’s Wurlitzer playing. Powell and Paulo César Pinheiro’s “Refém da Solidão” is a simple but beautiful ballad, while Powell and de Moraes’s “O Astronauta” has a natural, standard-like feel orbiting in the hands of this jazz quartet.

Duvignau’s subdued “Mata Adentro” (meaning “Into the Forest”) is open and minimal, providing ample space for Drewes, Frisell, Hirshfield, and the leader to explore texturally. The bassist challenged himself and took on Powell and de Moraes’s “Berimbau” and “Consolação” as a solo piece for bass, channeling the mystical sounds perfectly. Powell and Pinheiro’s “Lapinha” is a song about a capoeira master from Bahia and the ensemble performs it in a bright and folkloric manner. The recording concludes with Duvignau’s tribute to Powell and Frisell, “For Bill & Baden,” finishing the record with a blues as Duvignau does most performances.

The music of Baden Powell has been a revelation for Gui Duvignau since he discovered the guitarist a number of years ago. The bassist has assembled a fantastic ensemble and program to pay tribute to the Brazilian great on Baden.

1. Canto de Ossanha

2. Canto de Xangô

3. Tristeza e Solidão

4. Ao Baden

5. Bluesa Preta / Asa Branca

6. Canto de Iemanjá

7. Refém da Solidão

8. O Astronauta

9. Mata Adentro

10. Berimbau / Consolação

11. Lapinha

12. For Bill & Baden

Billy Drewes - saxophones, clarinet

Lawrence Fields - piano, Wurlitzer

Gui Duvignau - bass

Jeff Hirshfield - drums

Ron Carter - bass (track 5)

Bill Frisell - guitar (tracks 1, 3, 9, 12)

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Art Lillard / Michael Jefry Stevens Quartet - Forgotten Wish (June 2021)

Originally recorded in 1984 in New York City, this becomes the earliest recorded release of mine. All original music by myself and Art Lillard featuring Billy Drewes on saxophones and Keiichi Ishibashi on bass.

1. Dedication 06:14

2. Idle Wisdom 05:43

3. Forgotten Wish 06:58

4. Invocation 07:25

5. Waltz Whitman 05:45

6. Sin City Shame 04:02

7. It's Soon 04:38

8. Today, This Moment 18:07

9. Red's Blues 05:33

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Lukas Akintaya - Hues (May 28, 2021 Skirl Records)

Hues is a project reflecting on the experience of moving to a new place. Arriving in New York, going through the process of re-orientating, absorbing and recalibrating, searching for a connecting line between the dots. It illuminates the journey of growing deeper roots and taking in new perspectives; a stream of thoughts at a given moment in time.

1. From Far

2. Terrace Place

3. Unicorn on Carroll Street

4. Interlude

5. Certain Uncertainties

6. Todah

7. Todah II

8. Patience, Growth

Jeremy Viner – tenor saxophone

Keisuke Matsuno – electric guitar

Simon Jermyn – electric bass

Elias Stemeseder – synthesizer, electronics (1,2,3,5,8)

Billy Drewes – soprano saxophone (2,8)

Lukas Akintaya – drums, percussions, keys & compositions

All compositions by Lukas Akintaya

Recorded by Joseph Branciforte at Dolan Studio, NYC in May 2019

Edited and mixed by Joseph Branciforte at Greyfade Studio, Brooklyn

Additional synthesizer recording by Bertram Burkert, Berlin

Digital & vinyl mastering by Philip Gosselin at LeLab Studios, Montréal, Canada

Photos, artwork & design by Odelia Toder

LC by Gartenmusik

Produced by Lukas Akintaya

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Gui Duvignau - 3, 5, 8 (2021 Sunnyside Records)

Curiosity is a principle motivator for Gui Duvignau, though what might provide just a diversion for some frequently becomes a passion for the young bassist/composer. From music and art to history and numbers, Duvignau finds ways to immerse himself in subjects, gaining something for the time spent. His new recording, 3, 5, 8, demonstrates his fervor for discovery and his application of it in brilliant fashion.

Duvignau’s French parents were seekers and explorers. After the birth of their son in France and a short time in Morocco, the family settled in Belo Horizonte in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Here Duvignau was raised with his brother in a household filled with discovery, musical and otherwise. During his teenage years, the family moved to São Paulo, where Duvignau and his brother were attracted to the local rock and metal scenes. Duvignau began to play electric bass after his brother began his focus on guitar.

Rock music didn’t provide the young bassist with enough of a challenge, so he began to dig deeper into the possibilities of his instrument. Duvignau began listening to jazz, ordering CDs online, and waiting for deliveries of classics from Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and, especially, Charles Mingus. Studying the liner notes and devouring the music, Duvignau began to focus more and more on jazz. He began taking lessons with a local guitarist who gave him fundamentals on jazz harmony without rigid codifications. Duvignau also began to delve into the rich well of Brazilian music, including the music of Cartola, Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, Baden Powell, and Elis Regina, among many others.

Berklee School of Music in Boston would be Duvignau’s next stop. He focused on composition and bass guitar but was drawn more and more toward acoustic bass. Studies with composer Vuk Kulenovic led Dugivnau more and more into the realm of contemporary classical music. After his graduation in 2007, Duvignau put down the electric bass to focus on the acoustic bass, taking a few lessons from John Lockwood and others but remaining mostly self-taught.

A short stay in Portugal led to a longer one in Paris, where Duvignau really solidified his approach to composition, augmenting his personal expression in this his chosen artistic field. Recordings he made in Portugal and Paris introduced very different sides of his musical personality, the former a focused quartet with singer Sofia Ribeiro and the latter a sextet recording featuring his highly wrought pieces influenced by contemporary classical music and avant-garde jazz.

It was his move to New York City that led to the development of the music on 3, 5, 8. While completing his master’s degree in jazz studies at New York University, Duvignau was able to meet a number of musicians who would help shape his sound and approach to composing. Duvignau was introduced to Argentinean pianist Santiago Leibson at a recording session and they hit it off immediately. Leibson called the great drummer, Jeff Hirshfield, for one of their initial meetings and the three found a quick rapport as they began to play regular sessions and a handful of gigs.

While at NYU, Duvignau studied with the illustrious saxophonist Billy Drewes. Drewes was an inspiration, not only for his incredible playing, but for his compositional practice. The young bassist had become burnt out by writing highly involved compositions. Drewes recommended the practice of writing every day, no matter what came out. This helped Duvignau break through his writer’s block and focus on developing a simpler, more spontaneous compositional style.

When the opportunity to record came about, Duvignau wanted to form a unit of openminded and flexibly expressive players. He invited his trio mates, Leibson and Hirshfield, and added Drewes. Duvignau also brought in German guitarist and fellow Berklee alum Elias Meister to bring a blues-inflected energy into the quintet’s mix.

Initially self-taught as a composer, Duvignau relies on his own experience as much as his training to inform his compositional style. Brazilian music, especially that of the state of Minas Gerais, can be heard throughout his pieces. Duvignau also developed a book of compositions based on the pentatonic scales in order to focus on simplicity in structure; a number of these pieces can be heard on 3, 5, 8.

The recording begins with the rhapsodic “Volta” (Portuguese for “return”), a nostalgic piece for trio with a sense of longing and a loosely played Paul Motian influence. The bouncy “2” is the second piece in Duvignau’s book of pentatonic compositions and is brightly swung by Leibson and Hirshfield. Written as a love song for his partner of Brazilian and Armenian descent, Duvignau’s “Yerevan” is a gorgeous yet somber tune based on theme and variations meant to pay homage to the Armenian people and their struggles. Duvignau’s buoyant bass and Meister’s hazy guitar introduces “Minas,” a song that is informed in feel and rhythm by the bassist’s boyhood home.

The melancholy “Une pensée pour Paris” is a lilting, meditative ballad that was written upon learning of the devastating fire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Duvignau’s former home. The playful “Vem Logo!” (meaning “come quickly!”) was written for Durvignau’s recently born niece and is a warm welcome to the world. The ever shifting “Detuned for Drewes” is a dancing tribute to the saxophonist and mentor that encapsulates the energy that Duvignau was able to draw from Drewes. Meister’s strident guitar fits perfectly on “Somewhat,” a piece born of a blues idea. The recording ends with a short and spirited recapitulation of “Detuned for Drewes,” ending appropriately enough with “Right? Wow!”

Finding the poetry in many aspects of life (including numbers), Gui Duvignau has written an ode to his discoveries on 3, 5, 8, whose title is a clever way of announcing his third recording and his focus on pieces for trio and quintet, eight fantastically diverse tunes in total.

1. Volta 04:41

2. '2' 04:12

3. Yerevan 07:14

4. Minas 05:34

5. Une pensée pour Paris 05:57

6. Vem Logo! 06:24

7. Detuned for Drewes 03:03

8. Somewhat 05:04

9. Right? Wow! 00:30

Billy Drewes - tenor saxophone

Elias Meister - guitar

Santiago Leibson - piano

Gui Duvignau - bass

Jeff Hirshfield - drums

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