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Andre Matos

The distance between modern post-bop sounds and free jazz suffused with high-tech experimentalism narrows significantly on the new CD Quare, from André Matos, a brilliant young guitarist and Portuguese native now living in the United States. Released on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music, Quare is Matos' third album as a leader, and it features his spectral playing in various musical settings with accompaniment from some of the top young jazz artists on the scene today.

Matos possesses a strikingly mature musical vision for an artist still in his late twenties. His first release, 2005's Pequenos Mundos (Small Worlds), showcases a more languid guitar style that stands atop the arrangements, but with his second album, Rosa-Shock, Matos began taking a more integrated approach in terms of balancing his instrumental voice with that of his band mates. Key to Matos' development in this regard has been a steady association with pianist Leo Genovese (known also for his work with Argentine singer Sofia Rei Koutsovits) and bassist Thomas Morgan, as well with budding vocal star Sara Serpa, also from Portugal--and the guitarist's partner in many musical settings. Adding drummer Ted Poor to the rhythm section and bringing in Noah Preminger on tenor saxophone for several cuts on Quare undeniably enhanced the musicality and adventurousness of the recording, a sign that Matos thinks compositionally and seeks the right atmosphere for his ideas.

Quare (the word translates from Latin to "why" in several contexts, Matos says) leads off with "Lucky Star," an original that emphasizes the close musical relationship between Matos and Genovese, as the two musicians take turns on the sturdy melody while subtly supporting each other's improvisations. This strategy succeeds elsewhere on Quare, with Matos jumping along with the rhythm section on "Hanguing with Zuco" and then employing tasteful guitar effects on the ballad "Vigia." Often, Matos' guitar tone is reminiscent of Pat Martino and John Abercrombie but will readily mix in elements of blues and rock stylistically into his playing and writing, as heard in tracks like "Harlem Days," "Hope and Joy" and "Final Spin," respectively. As an improviser, Matos is more of a colorist, imbuing songs with harmonic inflections that benefit a song's totality instead of merely spotlighting his skills or flash.

Both Matos and Serpa shine on the title track of Quare and another cut later on the album, "Seven," with guitar tiptoeing around wordless vocals that drift and sway around the melodies.

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Album Review

Sara Serpa & André Matos: Night Birds

Read "Night Birds" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright


Night Birds, singer Sara Serpa and guitarist André Matos' third album together, offers an ethereal program of compositions written by the duo, separately and together. They are joined on various tracks by Brooklyn-based pianist-composer Dov Manski, South Korean avant-garde cellist Okkyung Lee, Swedish experimental singer Sofia Jernberg, Portuguese drummer João Pereira, and their young son Lourenço. The album concludes with a Béla Bartók bagatelle. To begin with the intriguing closer, the Bartók is performed quite simply, twice, with ...

3
Album Review

André Carvalho: Lost In Translation

Read "Lost In Translation" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Bassist Andre Carvalho conceived this album around the concept of “untranslatable words"—words for concepts that have no equivalent outside of their native language. He has used this idea to create a cycle of amorphous composition, realized here by a trio of bass, guitar and saxophone with the occasional addition of trumpet. The words come from languages such as Dutch, Urdu, Japanese and Sanskrit and can describe states of mind, grand philosophical concepts or something as mundane as a mark left ...

200
Album Review

Andre Matos: Quare

Read "Quare" reviewed by Nic Jones


Quare is Portuguese-born/New York-resident guitarist André Matos' third album as a leader, and his first for saxophonist Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music label. The label might be the guitarist's natural musical home, as he offers a variation on the theme of the tradition every bit as singular as Osby's; this album could have been yet another take on the post-bop mainstream, Matos clearly has a deep enough appreciation of the music to realize that it withers on the vine if ...

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Interview

Andre Matos: Fantasies Realized

Read "Andre Matos: Fantasies Realized" reviewed by William Carey


There is no doubt that André Matos has chops to burn. Placed firmly in the tradition of John Abercrombie and Pat Martino, with a bit of Sonny Sharrock at moments, a lot of Berklee (College of Music) influence is readily apparent, but with a bit of headiness that also reflects the guitarist's time at the New England Conservatory. Quare (2010), released on saxophonist Greg Osby's record Inner Circle Music label, serves as a nice introduction to Matos' compositional skills as ...

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Album Review

Andre Matos: Rosa-Shock

Read "Rosa-Shock" reviewed by Phil DiPietro


Andre Matos, at 27, is the latest young guitarist to take aim at the international jazz scene from the strategic port of Lisbon and its effervescent Tone of a Pitch imprint. Like his labelmates, Matos is a free thinker. He combines modern jazz with the attitude, mood and tinge of modern rock and creates what could be termed “alternative" jazz, but not the kind that manipulates Nirvana covers. Both in writing and execution, Matos takes more than literal ...

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151

Interview

Guitarist Andre Matos Interviewed at AAJ

Guitarist Andre Matos Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

There is no doubt that Andre Matos has chops to burn. Placed firmly in the tradition of John Abercrombie and Pat Martino, with a bit of Sonny Sharrock at moments, a lot of Berklee (College of Music) influence is readily apparent, but with a bit of headiness that also reflects the guitarist's time at the New England Conservatory. Quare (2010), released on saxophonist Greg Osby's record Inner Circle Music label, serves as a nice introduction to Matos' compositional skills as ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Night Birds

Robalo Records
2024

buy

Lost In Translation

Outside in Music
2021

buy

Quare

Inner Circle Music
2010

buy

Rosa-Shock

Tone of a Pitch Music
2008

buy

Carlos

From: Night Birds
By Andre Matos

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