reg erg Alberto Braida, Wilbert de Joode (Red Toucan) Action and interaction are at the crossroads when pianist Alberto Braida and bassist Wilbert de Joode get together. The two are improvisers of the first caliber, always looking for the new and different while acknowledging the root that is the take-off point. Braida has long been active as an improviser, particularly in Europe. He has played and recorded with an equally impressive host of innovators including Giancarlo Locatelli, Fabrizio Spera, Gianfranco Tedeschi, Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Lovens and Lisle Ellis. He now finds a companion in de Joode, whose credentials have been stamped beyond the pale of doubt. de Joode is comfortable both in composition and free jazz, but whichever way he goes, he brings in interesting motifs that make him a distinct pleasure. It is not surprising that Braida and de Joode construct marvelous sound edifices. Braida and de Joode shape their collaborations with a remarkable dexterity. The melody that filters through "Is It Here" is given dimension on the piano both in the flow of the notes and the attack of the chords. de Joode plays an array of runs to complement the melody. He soon shifts gears with an animated slapping of the bass. The percussive effect ups the pulse, but he goes back to a gentler strumming of the strings when Braida turns to a mellow mood. They have come full circle seamlessly. Braida and de Joode play a cat and mouse game on "Wadi," circling each other, making swift darts and then drawing back. Silence and space, the bowed classical strains on the bass and the exclamations on the piano are in continuous motion, surging and retreating. The atonal finds its nook in the dry sawing of de Joode's arco until Braida ushers in the melody. The emphasis waxes and wanes but the two make sure that this wadi never runs dry of exceptional ideas. The understanding between de Joode and Braida gives the record the grain of a unique experience. Jerry D'Souza (All About Jazz) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ALBERTO BRAIDA / WILBERT DE JOODE - Reg Erg (Red Toucan 9332; Canada) Italian pianist, Alberto Braida, can be heard on two great trio discs with Lisle Ellis & Fabrizio Spera (on NuBop) and with Peter Kowald & Giancarlo Locatelli (on Free Elephant). Dutch bassist, Wilbert De Joode, has played with many of the best Dutch musicians like Ab Baars, Cor Fuhler, Tobias Delius & Ig Henneman. This disc was recorded in a studio in Milano in April of 2006 and is an excellent duo offering. "Tassili" begins with a minimum of notes, suspensefully displayed. "Leprechaun" builds in tempo, as both players weave around one another. There is a strong balance between both musicians as they navigate the rapids and more placid sections of each piece. I dig how on "Is it Here?" the way Wilbert bangs percussively on his bass pushing Alberto into a more intense section of explorations. Their one long piece, "Wadi" evolves organically from its more restrained beginning into a spacious yet more bristling conclusion. One of the things I love about this disc is the way that this duo make every note count, they take their time to explore cautiously and erupt when need be. This gives their music time to breathe and it gives us time to consider each sound as it moves through space. Nothing seems forced, everything is in its right place. - BLG, "Downtown Music Gallery" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode "Reg Erg" (Red Toucan, 2007) Alberto Braida (p), Wilbert de Joode (b) In this new piano/bass duo album from Red Toucan, 41-year-old Italian pianist Alberto Braida proves himself to be a powerfully creative force. While he can lightly and inquisitively dance about the keys, Braida can also lead a powerfully barrage of playing, demonstrating, most notably, his remarkable rhythmic vision. Always fresh and unexpected, Braida leads this duo through a set of both short and medium length pieces with veteran bassist Wilbert de Joode. The lesser-known Braida has performed with international greats including Wadada Leo Smith, Peter Kowald, and Gino Robair. Currently, he is involved in small-group projects with the likes of John Butcher and Jack Wright. Mike Szajewski, WNUR Jazz ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ALBERTO BRAIDA / WILBERT DE JOODE - Reg Erg ( Red Toucan ) Braida is a pianist from Milan who has played with a who's who of international new music - Wadada Leo Smith, Peter Kowald, Wolfgang Fuchs, Alessandro Bosetti, you name them. De Joode is a Dutch bassist defined by his website as "a veritable research scientist of bass pizzicato and bowing techniques". Surprisingly, this CD represents your reviewer's first meeting with both artists' expression. I found the music essentially elegant, at times even crepuscular, with enough doses of personal insights amidst a few influences that are not exactly marked in red. Apart from "Wadi" which lasts about 13 minutes (never boring, we should say), the tracks are mostly on the short side - which is a plus in my opinion: that way, the exposition of one or more concepts gets framed in a restricted time span, which usually makes for concise, incisive statements. Although there are several instances in which many notes are played, with or without the help of extended techniques, this duo never transcends the limits of good taste; petulant chatter this ain't. No provisional remedies, only firm gestures; Braida and De Joode know what they're doing, their experience attributing the material a "composed" quality that increases the pleasure of appreciation. Hospitable improvisations that don't ask for our patience more than the strict necessary, worthy of consideration under any point of view. A nice album.
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremis ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode reg erg -Red Toucan 9332- in his duo with Italian pianist Braida, coherence is not the issue; de Joode's alternately determined and demure approach invokes a give-and-take, or occasionally a wait-and-see, of abstract design. The longest of these ten pieces, "wadi," makes the process audible, beginning with tentative, undifferentiated chunks of material that float and clash until a connection is made and the tension is resolved in rhythmic agreement. In smaller doses they jostle and bump in loose, if restrained, maneuvering. Braida's fondness for fragmented phrases is everywhere apparent, underlined by an acute sense of dynamics and touch -- at times he seems to be barely dusting the keys, at others he sustains swirls and eddies of notes or grabs at chords brusquely. But his attention to color also reminds us that the piano is a sound box, as he draws from it accents of wood, metal, and chimes muted and ringing. Art Lange, Point of Departure ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode By Ken Waxman ...Halving the personnel, but doubling the interplay, Italian pianist Alberto Braida and Dutch bassist Wilbert de Joode are equally expansive on Reg Erg. De Joode has recorded with van der Schyff. Braida, recorded with Canadian bassist Lisle Ellis and plays with Butcher. Both have manifold technique that negates this reduced instrumentation, as their 10 duets show them systematically following each others' impulses with radar-like communication. On one nocturne for instance, Braida assembles low-frequency note clusters as de Joode bows intermittent tremolo runs; on another, thick bull fiddle intensity causes the pianist to octave jump into the darker textures of his instrument. Elsewhere Braida exposes key clipping and flowing arpeggios, while the bassist constructs solos from rubber band-like plucking or by tightening and loosening his strings. Reg Erg's climax is "Wadi", where the pianist escalates from pedal-muted single notes to fanning chords that emphasize the instrument's back frame and dampers. Compatible, de Joode's buzzing arco lines are shaped sul ponticello so that his splayed, staccato dynamism meets Braida's near-kinetic runs. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Braida, Joode: Red Erg (Red Toucan - 2007) Wilbert de Joode et l'art du duo, ensuite. Aux côtés du pianiste Alberto Braida, le voici cherchant les réponses justes aux motifs répétitifs et appuyés de son partenaire. Confus, parfois, le dialogue pêche par l'impression qu'il donne de se suffire à lui-même ( Wadi , Ger ), quand il est pourtant capable de donner les gages d'une entente rare : la progression du piano que les grincements d'archet contrarient sur Sonoran , ou l'épreuve contemporaine mesurée et supérieure de Adrar , pièce magistrale recommandant Reg Erg. |