Carlos Barretto - Radio Song

Clean Feed 072

It’s a shame that Portuguese bassist/bandleader Carlos Barretto isn’t more well-known outside of his native country, for based on a number of early dates for Clean Feed, his technical prowess, rock-solid beat and compositional skill are commensurate with peers such as Mark Helias and Mario Pavone (not to mention fellow Lisbonite Zé Eduardo). Radio Song was originally issued on his own CBTM label five years ago, along with an equally fine recording of unaccompanied bass; Clean Feed has seen fit to reissue this recording, which brings together Barretto, drummer José Salgueiro, guitarist Mário Delgado and, on three tracks, French reedman Louis Sclavis. Nine of the eleven pieces here are penned by the bassist, with the exception of a guitar-percussion duet and a bass-bass clarinet duet, both of which are freely improvised.

One of the things that has showed promise among Lisbon’s improvising community is a penchant for rather unwieldy and curious stylistic blends – regional folk tunes, minimalism and “concert music” textures, free improvisation, and progressive rock find their way into the music of Barretto, Rodrigo Amado, Bernardo Sassetti and their kin. The Barretto-Delgado-Salgueiro axis seems hell-bent on updating jazz-rock fusion in a very fresh way, with tastes decidedly weaned on punk rock energy and, if at times it’s bombastic, it’s not without humor and finesse. Delgado’s Filacteria (Clean Feed, featuring saxophonist Andrzej Olejniczak and trombonist Claus Nymark), is a fine example of this blend, as is Barretto’s heavy Lokomotiv (Clean Feed, with French baritone saxophonist François Corneloup in for Sclavis).

Barretto’s music is relentlessly rhythmic and light on its feet, while remaining a maze of contrasts. The opener, “Distresser,” has a Softs-esque bridge and sashays forth with equal parts fluidity and raunch. Sclavis and Delgado find unison in dissonance, playing off one another in bird-flight and rhythmic undermining here and on the shattered old-world melodies of “Asa Celta.” A good portion of the disc is devoted to the “Searching” suite, covering the fifth through ninth tracks, exploring just how telepathic this trio is – skittering, electrified guitar runs, spacey wah-wah, flickers of energy stream through the tightly-knit spaces between Barretto’s huge, insistent drive and Salgueiro’s fractured funk. From minimal motifs, Barretto builds a statement of liquid wood and forearm muscle in his unaccompanied introduction to “Espirito da Solidão,” finally joining Delgado in a unity of bowed and delayed tones. The final movement shifts between lilting walk and freebop-in-transit, Delgado scurrying about on his own fuzzed-and-detached pulse before bringing “Final Searching” to its anthemic close.

Though it’s a fine thing to bring Radio Song to a greater audience by reissuing it with proper distribution, it’s been a while since Clean Feed offered up a healthy slew of new Portuguese improvisers for non-Iberian fans to salivate over. Regardless of whether anyone steps up to the plate in making Portuguese jazz more widely available, it’s clear that there is a varied scene in Lisbon, and a number of heavy-hitters to watch for.

~ Clifford Allen