Five different trios of Portuguese, Lisbon-based sax hero José Lencastre.
Understanding Life documents the trio of Lencastre, Copenhagen-based, French-Filipino pianist Margaux Oswald and fellow Portuguese guitarist João Carreiro, in their first recording together, paying homage to the legendary British philosopher-scholar-writer Alan Watts (1915-1973), known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience. The album, recorded at Namouche Studio in Lisbon in July 2023, was inspired by Watts’ writings and attempts to capture the essence of Watts’ philosophy and share his wisdom through spontaneous, instant compositions. Watts conceptualized an approach to life and spirituality that is similar to the state of mind during free improvisation, meaning being fully in the present moment, embracing the natural flow of life, at its deepest suchness without intellectual analysis but with a direct and full engagement with the world, or as one of the pieces is titled «The Wisdom of Insecurity». Lencastre, Oswald and Carriero translate the seminal teachings of Watts into an arresting and enigmatic sonic journey. The eight free improvisations flow seamlessly, are distinct and urgent, stimulating but unpredictable, with exceptional synergy and boundless creative drive. The trio hopes that the listening experience to this impressive album may guide listeners toward a profound mindfulness of life’s inherent beauty and interconnectedness.
Lemadi Trio features Lencastre with Belgian pianist Martina Verhoeven (a gifted photographer who took the cover photo) and guitarist Dirk Serries (he and Verhoeven are partners in life in music). Canonical Discourse is the trio’s sophomore album, following Tryptophan Suite (A New Wave of Jazz Axix, 2023), and was recorded at Serries and Verhoeven’s home studio in Brecht in March 2024. The atmosphere is different from the trio’s debut album where Verhoeven played the vintage electric Crumar piano and leaned toward a chamber one. The four extended, free-improvised pieces deepen the slow-cooking, often fragile and sparse, but attentive and tension-filled dynamics of the trio, attuned to each sound and the most abstract timbres of the alto sax, archtop guitar and grand piano, with all the extended, breathing, bowing and percussive techniques. Lencastre provides the melodic core of these improvisations, contrasting the spiky guitar lines of Serries and the inside-the-piano percussive-resonant sounds of Verhoeven. A challenge and a treat for the ears.
Transition Unit is a newly-founded trio of Lencastre, Series and fellow Portuguese pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro (who plays in Lencastre’s Nau Quartet and of RED Trio), recorded at Estúdio Timbuktu in Lisbon in May 2023. Series traveled to Portugal to play a few duo performances with Lencastre but then Pinheiro, who runs with Lencastre the Phonogram Unit label, surprised him and initiated a recording. Lencastre was a logical addition to this session, as he and Pinheiro are kindred souls and feel at home in such a free improvised format as on free jazz dynamics. The dynamics of this trio turned out to be mostly introspective and patient, almost chamber one, as Lencastre, Series and Pinheiro also correspond with the spacious Estúdio Timbuktu, but alternate with a few eruptions that experiment with thorny and tense frictions.
Riffs is the debut album of another new trio of Lencastre with fellow Portuguese double bass player Hernâni Faustino (who plays in Lencastre’s Nau Quartet, collaborated with him in many other projects and did the cover artwork) and British drummer Andrew Lisle, capturing its first-ever live session at Cossoul in Lisbon in May 2023. The atmosphere is of a fiery, ecstatic free jazz meets free improvisation with a tight and deep interplay that keeps pushing the music forward. The trios already sound like a working trio, bigger than it sums, and beautifully balances Lisle’s constant-shifting rhythmic patterns, Faustino’s engagement with abstract forms and Lencastre’s lyrical and melodic sensibility. The interplay leaves enough space for masterful, individual solos, but it never settles on familiar courses. A promising debut that demands more from such a great trio.
Chymeia documents a live, free improvised set of the ad-hoc trio of Lencastre with Polish double bass player Zbigniew Kozera and Catalan (with Portuguese roots) visionary master percussionist Vasco Trilla, captured at Klub Alchemia in Kraków, Poland, in October 2022 during Jazz Krakow Autumn. The album title refers to the ancient alchemy, embodying the transformative nature of the trio’s pursuit of turning raw materials of sound into something greater than the sum of its parts. This trio’s alchemic journey of sound preserves the spontaneity, urgency and risk-taking spirit of the live performance. The trio explores uncharted territories with uplifting energy and passion, elegance and camaraderie, sketching five distinct instant compositions that offer fresh, alchemically charged sonic landscapes, and concluding with the ritualist, meditative «Prophecy».
Eyal Hareuveni
José Lencastre (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone), Margaux Oswald (piano), João Carreiro (guitar), Dirk Serries (archtop guitar), Martina Verhoeven (grand piano), Rodrigo Pinheiro (grand piano), Hernâni Faustino (double bass), Andrew Lisle (drums), Zbigniew Kozera (double bass), Vasco Trilla (drums)
