Moshkiae Egberto Gismonti Solo 1979

The way that a guitar can do somethings by itself, is more often than not done simply by a few songs, and just before it gets better, the song is over. If that's why you listen to Egberto's hands on a guitar, you probably do not want to sit through the first piece which is over 20 minutes long, and superb ... "Selva Amazonica/Pau Rolou" is an incredible piece that is far out, and its movements are so special, that you wonder where else is this going ... and it doesn't stop. There are a couple of parts and changes, but it continues and it never feels like it doesn't belong. Likely an improvisation, the continuity of this piece is one of the best acoustic guitar things I have ever heard. Special. The guitar work, on his 8 String is a true masterpiece, even in composition.

In "Ano Zero", Egberto switches to a piano, and it is no less pretty than his work on his own guitars. It features the quietness and touch for which Egberto is known, and it shows up on the piano as much as it does on the guitar, and you gotta hear it to believe it ... there is a smoothness in it, that is uncanny, that you would expect him to have been at the piano all his life, and his guitar work is no different. And your ears, will be enchanted by some of this touch ... there really is no better.

"Frevo", is a theme that appeared in part on the "No Caipira" album. And, here. it is complete, and piano driven, and has some of the playful attitude that was found in "No Caipira", in its touch. Egberto plays the piano here, and brings the theme home. It's different than the previous part used in the other album, but it is much more interesting here, although the moods that it is used for it in "No Caipira" makes it more interesting, but here you get to find out what the whole piece is about.

"Salvador" is back to the guitar in a piece that seems to be more about his composition than it is about his flowing and flying style that we love to hear. Still nice. Though, by now, in this album, you and I have already fallen for the free flowing feeling, that is so exciting to hear.

"Ciranda Nordestina" starts with some percussion and his piano touching up the feeling. The percussion items used are said to be "cooking bells", and if that is the theme the anticipation of what the feijoada (Brazilian dish!) will bring to your stomach is ... something that you look forward to. However, his touch is so slight and careful, as to bring this music into something else that you can't specify, but you can certainly hear it and appreciate. Beautiful in ever sense, and maybe quite different from what a "song" is normally defined as ... things here just managed to develop into something else that takes your attention with very well.

The album notes specify that there were no overdubs, or touches in the recording of this whole album, which makes it even more insane and pretty ... to have that ability to simply just go for it, non-stop, and bring these pieces to you. And, above all, I doubt that you will find a better person improvising on his instruments than Egberto Gismonti ... and somehow, you have the feeling that he never once lost the theme that drove his material which is a testament to his talent and concentration level during the playing of his material.

Without a doubt a masterpiece that should be in everyone's collection. Not sure I think of this as "jazz: at all since the flow is so fluid and well played that the often ideas in jazz are nearly non-existent here, which makes this material very special, and not something that you listen to because it is jazz, but something that you listen to ... and close your eyes and fly ... soar would be more like it for me.

Moshkiae No Caipira Egberto Gismonti 1978

NOTE: Listing on the CD Reissue is not the same as the album.

Saudacoes No Caipira & Zabumba Noca & Garrafas Pira $ Bambuzai Palacio de Pinturas Maracatu & Sapo/Queimada & Grillo Frevo Esquenta Muie & Banda de Pifanos Frevo Rasgado Sertao Brasileiro Selva Amazonica (Homenagem a Villa Lobos) Uana Lua & Kalimbas Cancao da Espera Danca Das Sombras

This album tracks non-stop and the pieces are linked some ... and the best part of it, is that ... it fits and you go along for an incredible ride of images and sounds ... it's non stop and sometimes exhausting, because it is so much and so strong ... and ... of course, so beautiful.

Of all the albums by Egberto Gismonti that I have heard, this is the one that is less "jazz" or his usual ... welcome to my musical excursion to somewhere and nowhere at the same time specially in the early albums when he is solo.

Right away after the opening, the only piece that is familiar for us, in that it is a nice piece of what we might almost call pop music, the album takes off in what we should really think is some kind of classical music, and later Egberto plays a piece that is dedicated to Villa Lobos, but in my mind this is the best Stravinsky ever ... and the images, are never going to fail you ... Palacio de Pinturas ... stands out as creating an image of a forest that feels like it is long gone, these days, with the incredible rape of the Amazon Forest. It is a sad piece, but somehow it makes us want to listen to a lot more ... I'm not sure I have ever heard a "jazz" musician do classical music so originally as this ... this is pure music at its best ... and is an incredible achievement. And it concludes with a bit of piano that is so soft ... and is the opening of the next piece ... you get a bit of "jazz" with a saxophone, but it is not the showcase solo style of playing by anyone here ... it is a part of the musical piece ... and one that is not always found in any jazz out there.

Frevo is the beginning of the next section of this album ... and it is a flute driven jazz piece, classically composed, instead of a jazz feeling where the plays are everywhere somewhere else, but here you can see what it might be like when you get a classical musician do some jazz ... and it is better than so much jazz, because it doesn't feel "empty" or that it is not going anywhere ... you know that this is some incredible music, and you can't help feeling ... where is this going? ... and you want to listen to a lot more ... and goodness ... it delivers beautifully!

Esquenta Muie & Banda de Pifanos feels like a piece taken out of the natives in the forest ... and only becomes something else when the flute solos along the piece ... and gives it up to a piano that will floor your imagination ... and now we get something of a jazzy definition, but (again) it flows so differently and much more like classical music ... that all you can think is ... wow ... what next?

Sertao Brasileiro is a classical piece coming out of the previous piece. It leads into a piece that is said to be dedicated to Villa Lobos, the Brazilian classical composer.

The final piece, Danca Das Sombras is the special piece of all ... a classical piece all the way also featuring some of the jazz instruments ... it is some kind of a soundtrack for an imaginary film (title translates to Dance of the Shadows) and it has some strange bits and pieces fit into the complete piece ... adding a very different touch to anything that you thought jazz was ... this is very special classical defined and designed music for many of us ... and how it is played and done is magnificent ... something that you would want to see ... so on the way out you do not have many words for it, but it is like you are trying to find how you felt through so many parts of it ... it took you to many places!

There aren't many albums that fuse things so beautifully and come up with something really special ... and NO CAIPIRA is one such album ... it might not be Egberto's best selling album, but musically, it is an incredible piece ... and something that not many folks have the imagination to do ... in my book one of the most special albums I have ever heard, and loved dearly!

Moshkiae SOL DO MEIO DIA Egberto Gismonti 1978

(Side 1) Palacio de Pinturas with Ralph Towner (Side 1) Raga with Nana Vasconcelos and Colin Walcott (Side 1) Kalimba with Nana Vasconcelos

(Side 2) Baiao ... Mudanca with Ralph Towner, Nana Vasconcelos, Colin Walcott and Jan Garbarek

Just like the previous album (Danca das Cabecas), this one also has a feeling of "letting go" and we are just along for the ride. I'm not sure, that it matters where the music goes, since in this case it is impossible to describe what kind of music it is, as it has no form or ideological concept riding on it ... simply, another exceptional example of the free form ability that Egberto Gismonti show us all, and now, a year later from the previous album, you get the feeling that others wanted to be a part of it, and ... goodness me ... they improve it!

I think, can't say for sure, that the person that helps this so much is Nana Vasconcelos, with his touches on various percussive instruments that create an incredible atmosphere that is not always something that is done in almost all music ... you get the feeling that you are "there" with them, and that is such a special feeling ... this is very far from someone doing a solo ... very far ... and in the end, you end up feeling that no solo is needed here ... you just want to experience this incredible atmosphere and where these folks take you ... which, I imagine is so improvised, but it is focused so beautifully.

Coracao (Side 1) is all about the piano, and it is quieter at the start, and if there is a touch that is special here, it is that you don't feel like this is a concert hall, or any such idea ... it feels like this is home! And Egberto is simply just touching the keys as if to find a continuum for his work, which in the end, is all there already, and there is no form or idea to carry it any further so we think that the music fits this or that ... free form, of the highest quality, and a free form that has so much peaceful feeling, that you can not exactly formulate anything in your head, except to just be quiet and listen ... and where it goes ... feels like everywhere!

(Side 2) ... starts with the guitar and you can hear Ralph Towner adding to it, and then Nana Vasconcelos starts voicing along ... it makes you think this is music of the spirit and then some! And here comes, of all things, Jan Garbarek, and it is so gentle and quiet that is makes the whole thing even better. Generally, in a lot of jazz, some of the instrumentation makes a point of stating ... I'M HERE ... and you don't get that feeling here, and it feels just right and well designed/defined. And it matches the mood and feel of the whole thing ... I suppose the saxophone makes this piece sound a bit more like "jazz", but I am not the one to define that ... it doesn't feel like that for me, as it has that improvised feeling that you don't know what is around the corner ... but even when it seems like it doesn't fit ... it does! Crazy!!! And an incredible listen. After Jan's moments, we get Ralph Towner along with Egberto Gismonti, and this, is really a special thing ... they support each other so well, and both are not afraid to go somewhere else, so you don't get the idea that here comes a song ... there is no song here ... just plain music! And we're not even half way into this long piece!!!!! And the neat thing is coming up with Nana Vasconcelos and Colin Walcott having some fun in the rain forest ... in the middle of nowhere, so to speak ... and you hear the birds sing in between ... that's how easy it is to imagine something or other with this ... it is that clear and special. And towards the last part the solo guitar does not seem out of place ... it just feels like a fitting end to something so special!

A highly recommended album for any collection out there, specially one that likes adventurous music and stuff that defies description and definition. It's not every day that you get to hear something this good and special ...

Too many GIBLOONS to rate this album!

Moshkiae DANCA DAS CABECAS Egberto Gismonti 1977 With Nana Vasconcelos

It is, sometimes, difficult to explain to anyone what something is ... you try to find words, and they are not exactly there. This is the feeling you get when listening to this album. I would recommend not looking for it because it is this or that ... because what you will hear will likely be very different.

The album has 2 sides, both long pieces, that have some divisions in them as there are individual titles for them, however, my way of listening to this is to take the first few seconds of the opening of this album, and forget anything else ... close your eyes, and let the images fly.

You start out with the feeling that you are in a rain forest and that you are hearing this and that, and a soft guitar just coming along, and eventually becoming the focus of the piece. But there are some touches here that are really neat ... those by percussionist Nana Vasconcelos as if he was the one creating all the animal sounds to help with the image of the whole thing.

The second side of the album is basically the same thing, but done on piano, and it is just as far out and neat. According to the album, it has 4 parts, though I have to suggeest that hearing this, I do not seem to notice the parts ... you just trip along with the music, the same as the firt side of the album, which has 6 parts listed, however, the CD only shows Side 1 and Side 2 as two long pieces, which I think are better suited, so we don't think we have to listen to this song or that song. Some themes, come back, in the acoustic piece on the guitar, but in general, the listening feel is hard to describe. I tend to consider it ... welcome to my living room, or in this case rain forest and here we go ... nothing else. We don't always here a piano within this context, but it is like it was out there in the middle of the jungle, and like the guitar on side one ... wow ... it fits, and you can't help just closing your eyes and follow it.

It is a really beautiful album, and one that in many ways broke the mold at ECM, since considering this jazz is an incredible stretch, but the freedom and movement of the work, suggests something else ... and the only word to describe it is ... the beauty of it all!

It is listed, often as "World Music", and I think that it is given that simply because it can not be described well enough to define it ... but what it really is, is by far one of the prettiest free form albums you will ever hear, and on an 8-string guitar, on side one and simply just a piano on side two with Nana Vasconcelos accompanying the whole thing.

A fabulous album, and one of the many that Egberto Gismonti went on to do ... and create something different for a lot of folks to listen to ... a very impressive player and his technique is exquisite and his touches are about the clarity of the notes, and not exactly following something musical ... I kinda like to think of this as improvisational material that is music, but will not adhere to anything musical that we can consider.

An ECM album that should be in everyone's collection. There aren't many albums that are so different and exquisite as this one is ... again, a fabulous work, and a beautiful listen. And very special!