O Monstro |cs273

Um de poucos discos no vasto catálogo da portuguesa Creative Sources que não navegam nos territórios da improvisação reducionista, “O Monstro” alinha com uma frontalidade sem complexos na estética do free jazz. O free de Albert Ayler, possante, intenso, visceral e por vezes, até, violento. É mais uma faceta do contrabaixista e baixista eléctrico Gonçalo Almeida, o mesmo dos Lama (jazz moderno com composição) e dos Albatre (um jazz eléctrico muito influenciado pelo punk), neste caso em associação com dois músicos de língua inglesa radicados na Holanda, o saxofonista americano John Dikeman e o baterista inglês George Hadow.

A música é crua e dura, sustentada numa lógica de fraseado e totalmente improvisada, ao contrário do que acontecia com Ayler, que partia sempre de temas fixos. Nesse particular, tem coincidências com os processos da chamada música improvisada, mas se esta é tendencialmente livre de idiomatismos, Almeida, Dikeman e Hadow têm uma assumida filiação jazzística. Não se distinguindo o resultado de outros investimentos do género, o que aqui se dá a ouvir convence e até excita. Rui Eduardo paes (Jazz.pt)

Messieurs-Dames, vous voilà prévenus : cela s’appelle un disque de free jazz. Pour les aficionados du genre (dont je suis), ce disque égalerait presque le Raining Fire de Charles Gayle. Mille-feuille sur tom et caisse claire martelée (George Hadow), archet dissonant et adverse (Gonçalo Almeida), ténor en surchauffe (John Dikeman) : on connait la formule, on y admet souvent quelque lassitude d’écoute.
Mais il y a ici l’homme des Cactus Truck, ce souffleur infatigable, ce bourreau du souffle nommé John Dikeman. Chez lui, la tendresse ne pourra être que convulsive, les tics seront envoyés au vestiaire. Adepte de la déconstruction, refusant distraction et automatismes, il lacère, brutalise son ténor, borde cette bête immonde qu’est le free jazz. Après tant de copies (le saxophoniste y est parfois tombé anche la première) et d’implosions inutiles, voici un disque réconfortant. Bruyamment réconfortant. Luc Bouquet (Le Son du Grisli)

Things are of a different nature with this trio consisting of Gonçalo Almeida on bass, John Dikeman on sax and George Hadow on drums, three musicians who happen to be based in the Netherlands. As the title suggests, this is a monster of a trio, ferocious, raw, wild, fierce and sufficiently clever and creative to keep the interest going, including the wonderful shift at the end of the first track.

The second piece starts with a long bowed bass intro, and when the two youngsters join, the energy picks up again for some fantastic interplay, one in which all three musicians play an equal role.

And then it's hard to describe why this is good, why this is so much better than the average, because you have to hear it. The heat that drives these musicians, the phenomenal skills that avoid automatisms, the discipline to listen to each other, the inventiveness in the moment, the focus to stay in the same tune while feeling as free as a bird, a monster of a bird in this case, and if you're a fan of free jazz, you shouldn't miss this one. Stef (FreeJazz)

"O Monstro" (Portuguese for "the Monster"), the musical freak by Goncalo Almeida (double bass), John Dikeman (tenor saxophone) and George Hadow (drums), is maybe the closest release to typical aesthetics of free-jazz sessions from the ones received by Creative Sources. Recorded on live stage at Zeal 100 in Amsterdam on 4th March 2014, this session is made up of four tracks, where they free a really wild energy, which got tempered by amazingly trapping juggling on instruments that express a remarkable talent by each musician. I really enjoyed the drumming on "Vrieke!" by Hadow, who seems to warp hard bop techniques into something that sounds wisely raw, the gipsy nuances of "Eastern tides" and the specular explosions and the popping crescendo on incandescent instruments you're going to listen on the initial "Pentagon" and the final title-track "O Monstro". The titles and its references as well as their apopleptic performances on instruments, which seem to give voice and shape to uncontrollable bouts of rage, seem to mirror the political debate that is flaming many (more or less) intellectual avantgarde circles in Europe. Vito Camarretta (Chain DLK)