Ryan Keberle's Collectiv do Brasil - Sonhos da Esquina (March 18, 2022)

The story of Collectiv do Brasil and Sonhos da Esquina

Of all the horns in a modern ensemble, the trombone might easily replace the vocalist. This probably has to do with the unique instrument's tone, colour, range, and pitch which enables a trombonist to evoke the human voice, moaning and crying like the very best blues singers. The trombone in Brasilian music is able to do something altogether different. It evokes that ephemeral Brasilian emotion called "saudades". When Ryan Keberle plays the trombone with his Brasilian colleagues in Collectiv do Brasil, he gives that emotion wings.

"That's how I fell in love with Brasilian music… when I first heard Elis Regina's music decades ago."

– Ryan Keberle

In 2017 Keberle took time off from his duties directing the music program at Hunter College to travel to Brasil. While in São Paulo he met three leading – and rather busy – Paulista musicians: pianist Felipe Silveira, bassist Tiago Alves and drummer and percussion colourist Paulinho Vicente. The trio and Keberle became instant soulmates, sharing a deep love for Brasil’s sophisticated music tradition, represented by Ivan Lins, Edu Lobo, Toninho Horta and Milton Nascimento, and also a love for American jazz. It wasn’t long before Keberle and the Brasilian trio became firmly entrenched as the quartet that was to become Collectiv do Brasil.

“Thiago, Paulinho and I have been playing together for 17 years… with Ryan we’re like four brothers”

– Felipe Silveira

Soon new music by Keberle came into existence and was added to the repertoire that the quartet began to fine-tune and perfect at regular gigs in and around São Paulo. The extraordinary chemistry between the musicians was electrifying, transcending cultural topography, immersed in the universal beauty of the afro-centric roots of Jazz and Brasilian music. It came as no surprise to anyone then that plans were drawn up for Keberle to return to Brasil; something he did a year later, to pay homage to the music they loved – specifically to some of its legendary creators Toninho Horta and Milton Nascimento. Thus the album Sonhos da Esquina was born.

“Caress the earth / Know the earth’s desires / the earth in heat, the ideal season / fertilize the ground…” – Milton Nascimento in “O Cio da Terra”

In paying homage to Milton Nascimento and the music he made during his legendary years at Clube da Esquina, this music has almost de rigueur, a prescient and almost spiritual quality to it, much like Nascimento’s own music. But this quartet was also determined to honour another legendary songwriter, Toninho Horta, together with three compositions by Keberle, as well. This repertoire features Keberle’s beautifully crafted arrangements, each of beguiling variety and sensuousness in every lovingly-crafted phrase of Sonhos da Esquina.

The chosen material, with the exception of the originals, judiciously focuses on some gems by both Nascimento and Horta. Listening to the manner in which Keberle sculpts the sustained inventions of [Silveira’s arrangement] of “O Cio de Terra”, its clear there’s not a single semiquaver that hasn’t been fastidiously considered. On “Campinas” and “Carbon Neutral” Silveira’s piano sashays, while Keberle seductively bends the notes in bittersweet, moaning harmonic conceptions.

The apogee of the album is Nascimento’s iconic “Clube da Esquina 2” which is preceded by Keberle’s original, crafted introduction “Sonhos da Esquina”. Piano and bass herald the music before Keberle’s questing trombone lines take over, each elegant melodic variation is following the other quite inexorably and with languid ease. Horta’s “Aqui Oh!” is a swaggering chart burnished by the musicians’ swing accented by the drummer’s hissing cymbals. Nascimento’s “Tarde” and Horta’s “Francisca” are eloquently elegiac and aching yet spacious and mellifluous.

All of this sumptuous music has been brilliantly captured at Brasil’s legendary Gargolandia Recording Studio on an album to absolutely die for.

- Raul de Gama, 2021 

1. Cio da Terra

2. Campinas

3. Carbon Neutral

4. Sonhos da Esquina

5. Clube da Esquina 2

6. Aqui, Oh!

7. Tarde

8. Francisca

Ryan Keberle - trombone, arrangements

Felipe Silveira - piano, arrangement on “Cio da Terra"

Thiago Alves - bass

Paulinho Vicente - drums

Recorded at Gargolandia Studios in Sao Paulo, Brasil in June 2018

Mixed by Alex Venguer

Mastered by Tyler Venguer

Produced by Ryan Keberle

Album artwork and design by Ktu Meza

Photos by Pedro Nogueira

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SINGLE "Canopy of Trees" from Brian Landrus' RED LIST

"Canopy of Trees” : a SINGLE from low woodwind master Brian Landrus’ upcoming album Red List: Music Dedicated to the Preservation of Our Endangered Species, via Palmetto Records

Brian Landrus © Nick Carter

Landrus’ impassioned manifesto dedicated to bringing awareness to the world’s most endangered species, Red List features Landrus with his all-star band: Ryan Keberle, Geoffrey Keezer, Nir Felder, Rudy Royston, Ron Blake, Jaleel Shaw, Lonnie Plaxico, John Hadfield, Steve Roach and Corey King. 

Hoping that Red List will help to facilitate “critical yet uncomfortable conversations about changing our global habit of destroying nature for our own gain,” Landrus is collaborating with the organization Save The Elephants and will donate 20% of all proceeds and 100% of profits to the organization, which has been helping to ensure a future for African Elephants for nearly 30 years.

Together he and his ace band create entrancing grooves, lush harmonies, evocative interludes and epic crescendos, all in the service of Landrus’ thoughtful compositions that bring attention to the plight of 13 endangered species on the planet. The Red List was compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk of animal, fungus and plant species.

The full album will be released June 17, 2022

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Braithwaite & Katz · Canopy of Trees - Brian Landrus

Reverso: Ryan Keberle / Frank Woeste / Vincent Courtois / Jeff Ballard - Suite Ravel (PHONOART PRODUCTIONS 2017)

Reverso - Suite Ravel brings together trombonist and composer, Ryan Keberle, and pianist and composer, Frank Woeste, for an album bridging jazz and chamber music realized by an outstanding quartet featuring French cellist, Vincent Courtois, and drummer Jeff Ballard. 

Not many composers have inspired jazz musicians as often or as intensely as Maurice Ravel. Ironically, Ravel was one of the first 20th century classical composers to acknowledge Jazz as a valuable inspiration. During his US tour in 1928 Ravel said: 

« Vous, les Américains, prenez le jazz trop à la légère. Vous semblez y voir une musique de peu de valeur, vulgaire, éphémère. Alors qu'à mes yeux, c'est lui qui donnera naissance à la musique nationale des États-Unis. »
— Maurice Ravel, Avril 1928

“You Americans take jazz too lightly. You seem to see it as a music of little value, vulgar and ephemeral. In my point of view, it is jazz that will give rise to the national music of the United States.”
— Maurice Ravel, April  1928

Keberle and Woeste show us that jazz and “classical” music have become even more intertwined in today’s music world, since they began to intersect amongst Ravel and his contemporaries such as Satie, Stravinsky and Milhaud over 100 years earlier, mutually inspiring the other’s practitioners.

Keberle and Woeste draw particular inspiration from Ravel’s “Le tombeau de Couperin”, a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917, in six movements based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. 

Reverso – Suite Ravel 

Peu de compositeurs ont inspiré les musiciens de jazz autant que Maurice Ravel.
Ravel fut de son côté un des premiers compositeurs du 20e siècle à considérer le jazz comme une source d’inspiration pour lui. 

Pendant sa tournée en 1928, il disait :

« Vous, les Américains, prenez le jazz trop à la légère. Vous semblez y voir une musique de peu de valeur, vulgaire, éphémère. Alors qu’à mes yeux, c’est lui qui donnera naissance à la musique nationale des États-Unis. »
— Maurice Ravel, Avril 1928

Frank Woeste et Ryan Keberle nous montrent avec quelle force le monde de la musique classique et celle du jazz se sont rapprochés aujourd’hui, les premiers rapprochements, souvent très critiqués, datant du début du 20 ème siècle, avec, entre autres, Satie et Stravinsky. 

Keberle et Woeste se sont inspirés plus particulièrement de la suite de Ravel intitulée Le tombeau de Couperin, une suite en six mouvement basée sur les principes d’écriture d’une suite baroque et composée par Ravel entre 1914 et 1917.  Elle fut écrite d’abord pour le piano, puis arrangée plus tard par Ravel lui même pour orchestre symphonique.

Le groupe transatlantique Reverso est un nouveau groupe avec une instrumentation très originale : Trombone , Violoncelle , Piano et Batterie.  

Il réunit des musiciens internationaux qu’on ne présente plus :

Dans Reverso – Suite Ravel, les musiciens jouent avec les éléments caractéristiques des mouvements traditionnels de la Suite Baroque (Prélude, Fugue, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet et Toccata) en proposant une sorte de miroir jazz, un reflet improvisé, de la composition originale de Maurice Ravel, et ce en renversant les rôles : Ravel, compositeur du 20e siècle qui s’est inspiré du jazz, inspire ici à son tour les musiciens de jazz du 21e siècle.

www.frankwoeste.com

www.ryankeberle.com

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis - Azul Infinito (2016)

Label:

Source: All About Jazz

Genre: Modern Creative Jazz

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

While the blues is a distinctly American creation, formed, fueled, and furthered by the African diaspora, the United States holds no ownership on blue-streaked sounds. They exist beyond our borders, and Azul Infinito makes that case in artful fashion by simultaneously tapping into various South American musical forms and cultures, reshaping them, and highlighting the color scheme(s) endemic to each one. It's a strikingly original album that's influenced by the work of specific figures and set cultural norms, but shaped by the creative spirit of a true original—trombonist Ryan Keberle.

Since arriving in New York in 1999, Keberle has made his mark in numerous contexts, working with cutting edge large groups like the Maria Schneider Orchestra and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, unique small bands like Joe Fiedler's Big Sackbut, and sophisticated pop geniuses like David Bowie, David Byrne, and Sufjan Stevens. But that's not the whole story. If you dig a little deeper into his discography and history, a connection to many forward-thinking Latin American composers emerges. Over the years, Keberle has supported the musical visions of singular personalities like bassist Pedro Giraudo, pianist Emilio Solla, and percussionist Samuel Torres. Each of those figures, in turn, has influenced Keberle and opened up new worlds of possibility in his dealings with rhythm, harmony, and melody. That's the setup for Azul Infinito. It's a record built around tributes, with many different musical tributaries feeding into the music, and it may just be Keberle's most fully realized statement yet.

In hearing this music, several things immediately jump out. First, for those familiar with this group, there's the manner in which this band has evolved over the course of three albums. The musical kinship between Keberle, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, bassist Jorge Roeder, and drummer Eric Doob was obvious on the band's debut—Music Is Emotion (Alternate Side Records, 2013)—but their bonds have only grown stronger and more flexible over time. Add to that the entrancing vocal work of Camila Meza, who came on as a special guest on Into The Zone (Greenleaf Music, 2014) and exists as a full-fledged member of Catharsis here, and you have something very unique and special. Next, there's the skillful way(s) that these musicians seamlessly shift from tightly-woven sections to looser episodes of interplay. There's an elasticity at play in the band's concept, allowing for dialogue and give-and-take within or at the periphery of fixed frameworks. And lastly, there's the manner in which the uncommon grouping of trombone, trumpet, vocals, bass, and drums sounds utterly complete. You didn't mind the absence of a "harmony" instrument like piano or guitar on this band's previous albums, but now you don't even notice it.

It doesn't take more than a few seconds for Keberle and company to draw you in, as layered vocal and brass ostinatos create a hypnotic ripple current atop the shifting sounds of Roeder's bass on "I Thought I Knew (For Pedro Giraudo)." That introduction seamlessly segues into a propulsive ride that underscores Meza's delivery. It's the first of several pieces on the album to feature lyrics, further broadening the vision of this outfit, and it pays tribute to Giraudo by nodding to the Argentinian chacarera. Then there's "Cancion Mandala," a Sebastian Cruz composition that explores and expands on Colombian folkloric music; "Mr. Azul (for Samuel Torres)," influenced by the hip bullerengue groove and featuring some engaging solo trading from Keberle and Rodriguez; and "She Sleeps Alone (For Sebastian Cruz)," which plays like a lament yet also speaks to the resolute spirit of oneness.

The second half of the album opens on an exuberant note with "Quintessence (for Ivan Lins)," but sorrowful tones enter the picture during a lyrics-enhanced take on Giraudo's "La Ley Primera." Then things come to a close with "Eternity Of An Instant (For Emilio Solla)," a through-composed vehicle that plays the ideas of development and persistence against one another, and Lins' "Madalena," a piece that highlights the strong communicative connections between Meza and Keberle. Both prove to be complex in certain respects, yet direct in others.

In his liner essay for this album, Keberle notes that this music "represents a broad scope of what South American music can be." That adoption of a vision built on potential, rather than purity, is what ultimately drives this music to great heights. In exploring different aspects of music and culture from South America without strictly adhering to any rigid dictates, Keberle has managed to create something that extends well beyond any style or school of thought. Dan Bilawsky

I Thought I Knew (For Pedro Giraudo)

Cancion Mandala

Mr. Azul (for Samuel Torres)

She Sleeps Alone (For Sebastian Cruz)

Quintessence (For Ivan Lins)

La Ley Primera

Eternity Of An Instant (For Emilio Solla)

Madalena

Ryan Keberle: trombone, melodica

Camila Meza: vocals

Mike Rodriguez: trumpet, pandeiro

Jorge Roeder: acoustic bass, electric bass, bass FX

Eric Doob: drums 

 

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