Vera Morais/Ensemble Mutante

An almost universal opinion is that live performances of Jazz and improvised music are superior to what is captured on record. While this is usually the case, a recorded performance allows both for repeated listens to a notable set and is able to catch nuance that may be missing in live performance. So it is with the exceptional disc here.

One of the high points of 2024’s Festival Porta Jazz (see the review at https://www.jazzword.com/festivals/porta-jazz-2023/), the elation and commotion engendered during this live performance by Vera Morais/Ensemble Mutante masked  complete appreciation of the program. Close-miked audio capture rectifies this drawback. A festival commission to an emerging artist, “é apenas um pouco tarde” is a composition by vocalist Morais which combined spoken word and poetry in English and Portuguese which was expressed by her own and others vocalizing in front of a stage curtain, which soon drew back to  bring in contributions from the other members of the festival-organized Ensemble Mutante.

Adding instrumental and vocal textures to now Amsterdam-based Morais, are tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Hristo Goleminov, who elsewhere works in a duo with the vocalist; alto saxophonist/flutist João Pedro Brandão; pianist Inês Lopes; vibraphonist/percussionist Aleksander Sever and drummer/percussionist Marco Luparia.

As instructional words and phrases emerge from the sometimes-garbled male and female voices, strident metal bar slides from the vibes, bass clarinet snorts and transverse flute variations become more obvious. In response to the vocalized “play many times” chant, saxophone antiphony and glockenspiel resonations mixed with drum pops back up reed slurs and smears. These intersect with bel canto or rumbling wordless vocals as t stopped piano chords maintain the continuum. Further sequences depend on interlocking choked or near-ecstatic vocals;, a duet between saxophone peeps and vibraphone rolls until the almost opaque cacophony ascends to ululating voices expressing single syllables, burbles and yowls; with interludes of thumping almost overbearing percussion and piano glissandi. Eventually the final section downshifts to processional piano vibrations, flute tipples, sibilant vocalization and a final alto saxophone squeak.

With enhanced audio capture revealing those sometimes-blurred steps that moved this project from cacophony to linear to a relaxed ending, this recorded version literally amplifies the program for superior appreciation.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. é apenas um pouco tarde

Personnel: Ensemble Mutante: Hristo Goleminov (bass clarinet, voice); João Pedro Brandão (alto saxophone, flute, voice); Inês Lopez (piano, toy piano. keyboards); Aleksander Sever (vibraphone); Marco Luparia (drums, percussion) and Vera Morais (voice)