A free-improvised meeting of the Portuguese alto sax player José Lencastre with Amsterdam-based double bass player Raoul van der Weide (who also did the cover collage) and drummer Onno Govaert, captured live at the local Zaal 100 club in 2018. The title «Spirit in Spirit» defines the legacy, the spiritual free jazz of the late sixties, but the delivery is totally free, fresh and original.
This trio is well-versed with the art of the moment and even tough «Spirit in Spirit» is its debut recording of these three musicians together it sounds organic and fast-flowing as a working trio. Lencastre begins «Illogical Truth» with a lyrical, searching tone, Govaert injects sudden, sometimes dadaist rhythmic shifts, and van der Weide anchors this commotion on solid ground. In the following pieces, Lencastre continues to develop melodic-lyrical ideas, most of the time with a modest-reserved voice but on «Walk in the City» he erupts with great urgency, while Govaert fully adopts the subversive role with unpredictable gestures and pulses and van der Weide keeps acting as the adult mediator, holding this kind of playful interplay and emphatic tension from sliding into random chaos, but more often sides with Govaert. The title-piece highlights how such an intelligent, collective free-improvisation can gravitate instantly into a strong, Don Cherry-tinged folk-like melody.
Eyal Hareuveni
José Lencastre (as), Raoul van der Weide (b, perc, objects), Onno Govaert (dr)
