Alma Paolo Fresu

• 1 S'inguldu 05:30
• 2 Inverno grigio 05:26
• 3 No trance 03:34
• 4 Alma 05:48
• 5 Angustia 04:33
• 6 Crepuscolo 03:15
• 7 Moon on the sky 05:57
• 8 Old D Blues 06:34
• 9 Ninos 04:05
• 10 Nenia 05:17
• 11 Under African Skies 07:25
• 12 Rimanere grande! 02:59
• Total Runtime 01:00:23

Info for Alma

Alma is the new recording collaboration between six-time GRAMMY-nominated Cuban composer and pianist, Omar Sosa, and celebrated Italian trumpet and flugelhorn player, Paolo Fresu. The CD features guest cello contributions on four tracks by the masterful Brazilian conductor, arranger, producer, and cellist, Jaques Morelenbaum. Recorded in Udine, Italy in May 2011, and produced by Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa for Mr. Fresus label imprint, Tuk Music, the compositions are written by Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu, except for Under African Skies, a gentle version of the popular track from the Paul Simon CD, Graceland.

Mr. Sosa first invited Paolo Fresu to join his band as a guest for a concert at NDR studios in Hamburg in 2006, which resulted in the release of a live recording entitled Promise, in 2007. Omar and Paolo toured together in Italy in July 2009, which further deepened the special musical chemistry between the artists, and inspired them to plan a Duo recording. Both admirers of Jaques Morelenbaums artistry, Omar and Paolo invited him to participate in the project. And when Omar traveled to So Paulo for a concert in August 2011, a studio session was organized. Mr. Morelenbaums illustrious career includes work with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Carlinhos Brown, Gilberto Gil, and Japanese pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto. Mr. Morelenbaum also did the arrangements for the recent Omar Sosa CD, Ceremony, with the NDR Bigband, which received a 2011 ECHO Jazz Award.

Paolo Fresu is a prolific artist, whose touring and recording history includes work with Carla Bley, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Holland, John Zorn and Ralph Towner, to mention just a very few. He also serves as artistic director for the Berchidda Festival (Time In Jazz) and the Nuoro Jazz Seminars. Mr. Fresu, who is from Sardinia, recently celebrated his 50th birthday by producing a series of 50 concerts in Sardinia on 50 consecutive days during the summer of 2011, featuring musicians he has collaborated with over the years. Omar Sosa joined him for a Duo performance in Cagliari on July 9th (concert number 26)!

The music on Alma, meaning soul in Spanish, is a mix of jazz and Cuban and world music, melodic and soulful, including a fiery version of Omars composition Angustia. Mr. Morelenbaum is featured on both the title track, Alma, and the opening track, SInguldu, as well as Omar Sosas new composition, Crepuscolo, and the version of Paul Simons Under African Skies. Mr. Fresus flugelhorn work is rich and warm. Sosas stylings are fresh and inventive. And the playful musical connection between the two is evident throughout the recordings. We have a sense of these accomplished artists dancing together, creating an expressive and poetic link between Cuba and the Mediterranean, offering us a wide range of subtle and engaging musical colors.

Trying to keep pace with the musical projects of pianist Omar Sosa or trumpeter Paolo Fresu is an almost-athletic pursuit. Calling either man prolific is an understatement, but what's more impressive than the quantity of music they release is the quality of their output. Both have tapped into an eternal wellspring of creativity that eludes most artists, with an ability to conjure the spirits of sound at will.

Their first encounter dates back to 2006, when Sosa asked Fresu to come aboard for a performance which resulted in Promise (Skip, 2007)—a live recording featuring Sosa's quartet, Fresu, and Cuban flautist Leandro Saint-Hill. Two years later, the pair toured Italy together and the experience deepened their musical bond, sealing the deal on their intentions to record a duo date. Alma is a worldly mix of music that finds balance between Fresu's modern European slant on Miles Davis-style moodiness and Sosa's inimitable explorations of the Afro-Latin Diaspora.

The majority of the music is fairly low-key in terms of propulsion, but high on emotional content. The use of percussion and electronic fringe in certain places—along with the occasional presence of cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, who served as the arranger on Sosa's Ceremony (Otá, 2010))—gives the project a sense of depth and variety, but this union of two spiritually-connected musical souls would have been enough to make magic, had this simply been a naked piano/trumpet recording.

While Sosa serves as the primary compositional force on the album, two of Fresu's three contributions—the uplifting 'S'lnguldu' and the gentle 'Rimanere Grande!'—bookend the proceedings. The most stirring material in the middle is a triumvirate of consecutive Sosa compositions. Morelenbaum, Fresu and Sosa create a heavenly blend on the peaceful title track, which starts in a serene place and arrives at a firm Latin space, while balancing somber and stately moods on 'Crepuscolo.' 'Angustia,' a duo number that appears in between, proves to be the most intense and excitable song on the album.

The pair proves to be simpatico in performance, but the two co-written numbers don't highlight this connection and are the album's weakest tracks, with 'No Trance' sounding like an outgrowth of Miles Davis' least-interesting '80s experiments and 'Medley Part I: Niños' not really going anywhere. Still, the rest of the material is pure magic. Each man brings something different and special to the others written material, and their shared reworking of Paul Simon's 'Under African Skies' is sublime, coming off like an aural imagining of a meeting between Davis, Bobby McFerrin, Jacqueline du Pré and Abdullah Ibrahim.

While it's fairly likely that both men have moved on to points unknown by now, with Alma they have created a work of art of full of life, love and soul. This is music worth savoring. (Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz)

Paolo Fresu, trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion, multi-effects, whistle
Omar Sosa, piano, Fender Rhodes, MicroKorg, samplers, multi-effects, percussion, vocals
Jacques Morelenbaum, cello

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