The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ozo: A Kind of Zo (Shhpuma)

Acoustic free improvisation with an ea-attitude, improvising drummer/percussionist Pedro Oliveira (Bernardo Sassetti) and classical pianist Paulo Mesquita used prepared instruments in a dialog that contrasts solid rhythmically melodic piano progressions with a mix of propulsive percussion, deep resonant tones, environmental timbre, and percussive interventions.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Pedro Oliveira-prepared drums

Paulo Mesquita-prepared piano


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UPC: 5609063800173

Label: Shhpuma
Catalog ID: SHH017
Squidco Product Code: 25278

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded in Barcelos, Portugal, on February 8th, 2015, by Jose Arantes.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"What happens when a classical pianist who loves jazz and free improvisation (Paulo Mesquita) join forces with a drummer coming from pop music, but with a special interest in electro-acoustic experimentation (Pedro Oliveira)? It happens what we hear in this surprising and wonderful debut CD by the duo OZO.

The music presented here isn't the simple crossing of what they both did before in their personal careers: this has no connections with Mesquita's specialization in the language and processes of the composer Samuel Barber or with Oliveira's work with the band Peixe.Avião, one of the top ones in the avant-pop field in Portugal, and collaborating with the new folk indie star Old Jerusalem. It's something else entirely, and it defies any labeling attempts.

The main focus is on rhythm, but if sometimes it sounds like The Bad Plus, it's not really jazz. The pieces follow the song format, but if this means that there are very affirmative approaches to melody, the most important factor is harmony. All the narrative developments and the permanent dramatization link us to Erik Satie and the Impressionists, but again, this creative universe could only exist today. What is it, then? It's OZO, and that says it all..."-OZO Facebook Page


Artist Biographies

"Pedro Oliveira began to play drums in 1995. He joined the band Kafka in 1997, with which he toured the country in concerts, one of the most emblematic being the "Sudoeste" festival in 2001. In 2004 he joined the Submarine, and in 2005 enters like effective member in the band Green Machine where it makes several international incursions. In the same year the activity of supporting musician begins with the artists Old Jerusalem and The Partisan Seed. In 2007 he formed the fish: airplane, one of the most emblematic bands of the new rock sung in Portuguese. It reaches the national sales tops with the discs "Madrugada" and the namesake "fish: airplane", thus reaching the recognition of the specialized critic. Over time, he performs several works for film and television, including the soundtrack to the movie "What's New in Love"; and the music film "Ménilmontant" for the festival Short of Vila do Conde, both realized by the band fish: airplane. In 2010 he founded the publishing house and group of artists Pad / Easy Pieces and, along with André Simão and Graciela Coelho, created the Dear Telephone. Currently, with the duo Ozo (together with the pianist Paulo Mesquita), PO + AL (together with Alexandre Soares) and his solo project Krake, uses a more exploratory language based on electronics and signal processing, always as a source battery pack.

During his career Pedro had the pleasure of sharing recordings and concerts with musicians as emblematic as Ana Deus, Manuela Azevedo, Bernardo Sassetti, Alexandre Soares, Sérgio Nascimento, Jorge Coelho, Sensible Soccers, Madame Godard, Nobody's Bizness, Rose Blanket, among many others. He shared the stage and opened concerts for bands like Massive Attack, AIR, Tame Impala, Morcheeba, Guano Apes, Einstürzende Neubauten, Swans, Mike Patton, Black Lips, No Age, Kurt Vile, among many others national and international.

Pedro Oliveira is also the creator of the Ensemble Insano Collective, which brings together 19 musicians from the city of Barcelos, as well as the "Barcelos Music Market" and the "Prata da Casa" Festival, which brings together all professionals in the area of ​​music in the city of Barcelos offering the population several free concerts.

In 2016 you will also be in cooperation with Barcelos Town Hall and the "O Burgo Divertido" Association in the creation of "Jazz ao Largo", a jazz festival that will take place in Barcelos during the month of September."

-RUA (Translated by Google) (http://www.revistarua.pt/Noticias/Pedro-Oliveira:-Um-mundo-com-centro-na-musica)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Paulo Mesquita studied piano at Conservatório de Gaia / Gaia Conservatory and continued his studies at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo / School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE) in Porto, where he graduated in Piano. He was a doctoral research fellow of FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) for the study, analysis and interpretation of the integral piano work and the Concert for Piano and Orchestra of the composer Samuel Barber. Paulo Mesquita is currently a PhD student of Arts Education at Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto / Faculty of Fine Arts of University of Porto.

After a long period dedicated to piano interpretation within classical music, Paulo Mesquita has decided to make known his skills of improviser and composer. He performs a kind of music with a distinctly urban sound, which strikes a perfect (un)balance between subtlety and rapture, revealing the pianist's classical training, his taste for jazz in its most varied aspects and the refinement of his piano playing, in the context of which the instrument is treated as a whole, inside and outside the keys and strings. Mesquita composed and played all the music in his three solo piano albums: Piano Harp and Percussion (2012), 13 sketches for a landscape (2013) and 12 sketches for a soundscape (2013).

On his own or in collaboration, Paulo Mesquita has played in Portugal, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland. Being a multi-instrumentalist, he is involved in many and varied side projects, from dance, theatre, cinema and live music, and include Beasthunters, OZO, The Outer Limits, George Haslam trio, quartet and septet, Steve Hubback, Stefano Risso and dancer Peter Michael Dietz with the project Band Can Dance, among others. This versatility originates a sound that could fall under the most wide-ranging movements of contemporary jazz through its symbiosis between experimentation, groove and improvisation."

-Paulo Mesquita Website (http://paulomesquitabooking.wixsite.com/paulomesquita/biography)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. String Strip 10:57

2. Paralell 8:17

3. Lens Flare 6:00

4. Z For Two 3:33

5. Short Story 4:55

6. Ozo 8:15

7. Landscapes 7:59

8. Wind 6:21

9. (no audio) 5:02

10. Untitled 3:32

Related Categories of Interest:


Clean Feed
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings
Instruments with Preparations

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Shhpuma.


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