Matéria Prima
“Carlos Bica + Prima Matéria” confirms Bica as one of Portugal’s most important jazz musicians and reaffirms hiskey role in the development of new perspectives for Portuguese jazz. The CD is packed with songs recorded atthree memorable concerts in three memorable locations, Culturgest, Casa da Música, and the Orient Museum. Inthis project, one of the most challenging of his career, Bica gives rein to his enormous talent as an arranger andsongwriter, achieving a remarkable balance between folk elements and a unique vision for modern jazz. In eightoriginal songs and two covers — one from Marc Ribot and a Ry Cooder classic, “Paris Texas” — all conceived aslaunching pads for improvisation, “Carlos Bica + Prima Matéria” is a kaleidoscope of strong emotions and is abrilliant document of unique events. For these concerts Bica, who is an established jazz bassist in Portugal andBerlin (he splits his time between these two locations), recruited three versatile Portuguese musicians, pianistJoão Paulo, guitarist Mário Delgado, and drummer João Lobo. To that stew he mixed in the young trumpeterMatthias Shriefl,a rising presence in the new German jazz. Together they expand Bica’s extraordinary musicaluniverse, a constellation that spans jazz, blues, rock, pop and ambient music. This original sound world moves thelistener through the landscapes of the great spaces, evoking artists as diverse as Ry Cooder, Michael Nyman,Radiohead, Carla Bley, Bill Frisell, and Tom Waits. With a discography punctuated by such standout recordings as“Azul” (considered by many to be the “great” album of Portuguese jazz), “Believer” and “Single” (exceptional solobass recording), Bica continues to innovate and surprise. Here he continues a multifaceted career that has led himto collaborate with artists such as Maria João, Carlos do Carmo, José Mário Branco, Camané, Pedro CaldeiraCabral, Janita Salomé, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, Aki Takase, Lee Konitz, Alexander von Schlippenbach ,Albert Mangelsdorf, Joey Baron, Matthias Schubert, John Zorn, Paolo Fresu, and Markus Stockhausen, amongmany others. What surprises him more than their individual qualities as musicians, he says, “is the emotionalintelligence that distinguishes the different ways of telling a story through the raw material that sound is.”
Matéria Prima
“Carlos Bica + Prima Matéria” confirms Bica as one of Portugal’s most important jazz musicians and reaffirms hiskey role in the development of new perspectives for Portuguese jazz. The CD is packed with songs recorded atthree memorable concerts in three memorable locations, Culturgest, Casa da Música, and the Orient Museum. Inthis project, one of the most challenging of his career, Bica gives rein to his enormous talent as an arranger andsongwriter, achieving a remarkable balance between folk elements and a unique vision for modern jazz. In eightoriginal songs and two covers — one from Marc Ribot and a Ry Cooder classic, “Paris Texas” — all conceived aslaunching pads for improvisation, “Carlos Bica + Prima Matéria” is a kaleidoscope of strong emotions and is abrilliant document of unique events. For these concerts Bica, who is an established jazz bassist in Portugal andBerlin (he splits his time between these two locations), recruited three versatile Portuguese musicians, pianistJoão Paulo, guitarist Mário Delgado, and drummer João Lobo. To that stew he mixed in the young trumpeterMatthias Shriefl,a rising presence in the new German jazz. Together they expand Bica’s extraordinary musicaluniverse, a constellation that spans jazz, blues, rock, pop and ambient music. This original sound world moves thelistener through the landscapes of the great spaces, evoking artists as diverse as Ry Cooder, Michael Nyman,Radiohead, Carla Bley, Bill Frisell, and Tom Waits. With a discography punctuated by such standout recordings as“Azul” (considered by many to be the “great” album of Portuguese jazz), “Believer” and “Single” (exceptional solobass recording), Bica continues to innovate and surprise. Here he continues a multifaceted career that has led himto collaborate with artists such as Maria João, Carlos do Carmo, José Mário Branco, Camané, Pedro CaldeiraCabral, Janita Salomé, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, Aki Takase, Lee Konitz, Alexander von Schlippenbach ,Albert Mangelsdorf, Joey Baron, Matthias Schubert, John Zorn, Paolo Fresu, and Markus Stockhausen, amongmany others. What surprises him more than their individual qualities as musicians, he says, “is the emotionalintelligence that distinguishes the different ways of telling a story through the raw material that sound is.”