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Amado / Zingaro / Ulrich  / Filiano: Surface: for Alto, Baritone, and Strings (European Echoes)


 

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product information:

Personnel:



Rodrigo Amado-alto, baritone saxophones

Carlos Zíngaro-violin, viola

Tomas Ulrich-cello

Ken Filiano-doublebass


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UPC: 5609063500028

Label: European Echoes
Catalog ID: 2
Squidco Product Code: 8578

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2007
Country: Italy
Packaging: Digipack

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Like the preceding disc from Rodrigo Amado entitled The Space Between (Clean Feed), this outing works the same tightrope. The Portuguese saxophonist adds cellist Tomas Ulrich to this trio of Carlos Zingaro (violin) and Ken Filiano (bass) for an uncommon chamber jazz experience.

Amado is probably best known for his recordings with the Lisbon Improvisation Players and recently for the critic's favorite Teatro (Clean Feed 2006) with Paal Nilssen-Love and Kent Kessler.

This quartet's recording, while walking away from the jazz tradition, shares much with openly improvised music. But that is not to say this music isn't accessible. Together, the four blend sounds in overtly satisfying ways. The relatively short pieces presented are played with a sympathetic ear to both the listener and the other musicians. Each piece unfolds very organically, the baritone saxophone utilized as equal partner. When the strings are approached in non-traditional ways on "Calculators," the players opt for plucked or gently scraped strings and tap-tap-tap of hollow bodies. The key here is the human touch upon the instruments. When in this mode, Amado enters with a gently overblown saxophone to not disturb the flow.

The quartet gives a nod to the blues on "The City," Amado's saxophone plays over the walking bass of Filiano and the plucked and strumming of Zingaro and Ulrich.

The centerpiece of the recording, "Surface Suite," is five short improvised pieces of varying moods and textures. Each revolves around a simple theme. The musicians develop the tracks into framed pictures for your enjoyment."-Mark Corroto, All About Jazz


Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"Portuguese saxophonist (alto, C melody, baritone, and tenor) Rodrigo Amado specializes in free-form, composition-in-the-moment jazz, and his various projects and trios have given him an international following. Born in Lisbon in 1964, Amado began studying the sax at the age of 17, briefly at the Hot Club Music School of Lisbon and with mentors Carlos Martins, Pedro Madaleno, and Jorge Reis, among other leading Portuguese jazz artists. With diverse musical interests, he explored how improvisation is handled in other genres, although his work with his various ensembles like the Lisbon Improvisation Players and the Motion Trio (with Miguel Mira and Gabriel Ferrandini) falls clearly under the umbrella of 21st century jazz, and he has been an in-demand studio player on numerous recorded projects. He started his own label, Clean Feed, in 2001, with brothers Pedro and Carlos Costa, before leaving the imprint in 2005 to start a second label, European Echoes. Also an accomplished professional photographer, Amado continues to be a bright light on the Portuguese and international improvisational jazz scene."

-All Music, Steve Leggett (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rodrigo-amado-mn0000249324/biography)
5/19/2025

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

"Cellist-composer Tomas Ulrich received music degrees from Boston University and the Manhattan School of Music. After attending a performance by the great Soviet cellist Mstislav Rostropovich at the age of eight, Mr. Ulrich was inspired to begin his musical journey on the cello. In addition to the traditional classical repertoire, Mr. Ulrich's work clearly demonstrates the influence of such diverse artists as Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Miles Davis,Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Dmitri Shostakovich and Olivier Messiaen. Mr. Ulrich has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as Anthony Davis, Joe Lovano, McCoy Tyner, Alice Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Derek Bailey, Ravi Coltrane, James Moody,Taylor Ho Bynum, Gerry Hemingway, Dom Minasi, Jason Kao Hwang, Dominic Duval, Ayman Fanous, Ben Allison, Ted Nash, Dave Douglas, Kevin James, Karl Berger, Hans Tammen, Coheed and Cambria, Natalie Merchant and Ivo Perelman. He is also a member of the Diller-Quaile String Quartet, which premiered his Quintet for Trumpet and Strings (featuring guest soloist Herb Robertson) in May of 1996. In 2006, Tomas began his recorded musical collaboration with the acclaimed German trombonist Christof Thewes with the release of Quartetto Pazzo "Melancholera" (with Rudi Mahall and Dirk Peter Kolsch). 2007 saw the release of Mr. Ulrich's first CD as a co-leader (Labryinths with Ayman Fanous on the Konnex label). In 2008, Mr. Ulrich released his first CD as a leader. Cargo Cult (with Rolf Sturm-electric and acoustic guitars and Michael Bisio-acoustic bass) released their first CD "If You Should Go" on the Cadence label to great critical acclaim. This ensemble has gone on to release three more CDs on the CIMP label (Tomas Ulrich's Cargo Cult (2009), Lonely House (Covers) (2010), Discovers (2011)). 2010 also saw the release of "Clear Horizons" on the German gligg record label with a new ensemble Tomas Ulrich's TransAtlantic Quartet (with Christof Thewes -trombone, Martin Schmiddi Schmidt-mandolin and Michael Griener-drums). JAZZ NOW has characterized him as "the total package ... incredible chops, great imagination and superb pitch. He fulfills the roles of bassist, guitarist, and additional horn player and is endlessly talented and creative". Jay Collins from Signal to Noise has written that "Tomas Ulrich is surely one of the most accomplished and intriguing cellists in improvised music, with a brilliant technical mastery and ability to play prickly improv, jazz, classical, film music or pretty much anything he desires." Tomas has written music for film, theater and instrumental performance and has concertized in Europe, Japan, South America and the United States. Mr Ulrich can be heard on over 100 CDs in a wide variety of musical styles and settings. Tomas has recently returned from a wonderful tour in Avignon with Bruno Bertrand percussion and Francois Grillot bass. These performances have been released as digital downloads by AMJI and are available on Itunes, Amazon, etc. . Tomas will be performing a solo cello recital in Saarbrucken on August 9th in addition to a series of concerts with Christof Thewes, Martin Schmidt, the Christof Thewes Little Big Band (Concerto for Cello, Mandolin and Big Band), Alexander Schlippenbach and Jan Roder."

-All About Jazz (https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/tomasulrich)
5/19/2025

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

"Ken Filiano performs throughout the world, playing and recording with leading artists in jazz, spontaneous improvisation, classical, world/ethnic, and interdisciplinary performance, fusing the rich traditions of the double bass with his own seemingly limitless inventiveness. Ken's solo bass CD, subvenire (NineWinds), received widespread critical praise. For this and numerous other recordings, Ken has been called a creative virtuoso, a master of technique ... a paradigm of that type of artist... who can play anything in any context and make it work, simply because he puts the music first and leaves peripheral considerations behind.

Ken composes for his quartet with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, and Michael T.A. Thomspon; a collective with Attias and Tomas Ulrich; and for his decades-long collaborations with Steve Adams and Vinny Golia. His prolific output also includes performances and/or recordings with artists including Bonnie Barnett, Rob Blakeslee, Bobby Bradford, Taylor Ho Bynum, Roy Campbell, John Carter, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Connie Crothers, Mark Dresser, Ted Dunbar, Marty Ehrlich, Giora Feidman, Bob Feldman, Eddie Gale, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Gonzalez, Lou Grassi, Phil Haynes, Fred Hess, Jason Hwang, Joseph Jarman, Sheila Jordan (with the Aardvark Orchestra), Raul Juarena, Joe Labarbera, Joelle Leandre, Frank London, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Tina Marsh, Warne Marsh, Dom Minasi, Hafez Modirzadeh, Butch Morris, Barre Phillips, Don Preston, Herb Robertson, Bob Rodriguez, Roswell Rudd, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Ursel Schlicht, Paul Smoker, Chris Sullivan, Peeter Uuskyla, Fay Victor, Biggi Vinkeloe, Kenny Wessel, Andrea Wolper, Pablo Ziegler. With Tomas Ulrich, Elliott Sharp, and Carlos Zingaro, he is a member of T.E.C.K. String Quartet.

Ken has been a guest lecturer, performer, and workshop leader at institutions in the United States and Europe. He earned a MM from Rutgers University and is currently on faculty at Mansfield University."- All About Jazz

-Pi Recordings / All About Jazz (https://pirecordings.com/artist/Ken_Filiano)
5/19/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. Uncommon places

2. Natural bridge

3. The city

4. Luzzara

5. Calculators

6. Room 28



Surface suite:

7. Eat

8. Talk

9. Look

10. Sleep

11. Walk



12. Trail's end

13. Art is truth

Related Categories of Interest:

Improvised Music
Jazz
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
August 2007
Quartet Recordings
Chamber Jazz
Squidco's Clean Feed 50% Sale

Search for other titles on the label:
European Echoes.


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