Best of 2019 #55: Paulo Gomes – “MAP + Chris Cheek”

Paulo Gomes’ Guerra e Paz was one of the very best things to come out in 2017.  How it unleashed immaculate melodies and let them wander freely off to the horizon created the sense of an epic journey while keeping the listener immersed simultaneously in the present microcosm of melodic expression.  It was also a nifty example of how the cadence of the new jazz era has altered dramatically from the swing and bop days, while its reliance on a well-crafted melody as a base foundation is as relevant today as it was when John Coltrane was creating mad vortexes of sound circling around the gorgeous melody to “My Favorite Things.”  On his 2019 release, Gomes adds saxophonist Chris Cheek to the mix.  The fourth installment from his MAP ensemble, Paulo Gomes documents the music performed from two separate concerts:  One at the Rivoli Theater and the other at the Coimbra Conservatory of Music.  It goes a long way to showing that the electricity generated by the ensemble in the studio carries seamlessly to a live setting, and that the addition of new personnel just amplifies the charge of the music to even greater heights.  There is no way any of this striking music should be falling under the radar.  It is just too damn good.

Your album personnel:  Paulo Gomes (piano), Miguel Moreira (guitar), Miguel Ângelo (double bass), Acácio Salero (drums), and Chris Cheek (saxophones).

The album is Self-Produced.

Music from Porto, Portugal.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp