While it’s good to spend time with people who will push you to think in different ways or consider different possibilities, sometimes you just want to be with like-minded folk.
Which is kind of what avant-leaning tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman is doing on his new album, Supernova (digital), in which he’s teamed with three fellow saxophonists under the name Ivo Perelman’s Sao Paulo Creative 4.
But while you’d expect an album that’s all horns all the time to be cacophonous, especially from someone like the avant-leaning Ivo Perelman, Supernova isn’t nearly so noisy. Er, not all the time, anyway.
Recorded July 20th, 2022…
at Estúdio dos Lagos, Embu / SP-Brazil, Supernova finds Perelman joined by Manu Falleiros on baritone and soprano saxophone, Rogério Costa on soprano and alto saxophone, and Lívio Tragtenberg on alto saxophone and, uh, something called a “bass clarinet.” Sounds made up.
Supernova kicks off, rather interestingly, with “White Dwarf,” a slow lament that sounds more like something from New Orleans than Brazil, like at one of the former city’s funeral marches. Played slow and low, Perelman and company go for more of a moody atmosphere than the sqwonky aggression you might expect, even during the parts in the middle when the four sax men get a bit playful.
Things continue to be moody, but even more atmospheric, for Supernova‘s next track, “Balk Hole.” This comes courtesy of all four men playing slowly and carefully, with their drawn out notes forming a tapestry of saxophnic sounds that, again, made me think someone was sad.
Though their sadness clearly didn’t last because when Supernova gets to its third track, “Planetary Nebula,” things take a turn. Where before the four men sounded like they were trying to mirror each other, at least in mood, “Planetary Nebula” sounds like they’re arguing over where to go to lunch, but using their instruments, not their words. It’s a noisy, free jazz adjacent piece, one that will delight fans of late-era Coltrane…and annoy people who want their jazz to be melodic and beautiful.
Next, Supernova continues down the noisy path, mostly, with “Black Dwarf,” during which some of the saxes are noisy and angry, while others set a background mood of ominous darkness. It seriously sounds like something you’d play as the opening to a one-person play in which Dracula laments his life choices.
Ivo Perelman’s Sao Paulo Creative 4 then go back to arguing about lunch, so to speak, for “Blue Supergiant Star,” during which the four take turns conflicting and mirroring each other, with the aggression and harmonizing making for a rather interesting big of free form jazz. Though by the middle of the track it sounds less like they’re fighting with sax sounds and more like they’re trying to work out who’s going to drive.
Supernova continues down the same semi-aggressive path with “Brown Dwarf,” on which Perelman and his compatriots again alternate between harmonizing and conflicting. Though unlike “Blue Supergiant Star,” the aggression isn’t as, uh, aggressive, while the moody undercurrents are, well, moodier, even if it does get a bit scattershot in the middle.
Ivo Perelman’s Sao Paulo Creative 4’s then concludes this collection with “Dark Matter,” which, like “Brown Dwarf,” manages to be aggressive, subdued, moody, and atmospheric all at once. Though at a mere 1:46, it also sounds like it was the start of something, not the end of it.
But while Supernova has as many moods…
as it does types of saxes, it all manages to work well together as a singular piece. Sure, it made me think of other places way more than Brazil — though, having only been there one, Brazil only makes me think of bats, soccer, and feijoada — but it never made me think there were too many people playing the same instrument the same way. Which, when you have four saxophonists, is saying something.
SCORE: 8.0/10
