By Don Phipps

One other State of Rhythm by Previous Mountain, a quintet which options Pedro
Branco on piano, Tony Malaby on tenor sax, Joao Sousa on drums, and two
bassists, Joao Hasselberg and Hernani Faustino, provides bluesy and soulful
introspection inside music of grace and sweetness parsed with free enjoying
components and abstractions.

The musicians draw upon a variety of historic idioms – for instance,
the opening quantity, “Goodnight Irene,” a 1933 Leadbelly composition, provides
a mixture of Branco’s free enjoying juxtaposed with Malaby’s soulful melodies
and the light rocking rhythm of the bass gamers and Sousa’s drums.

One can be struck by the solemn expressions of a number of the numbers. For
instance, “The Sixth Commandment” provides a delicate repose, with agitating bass
strains and harmonic piano abstractions beneath Malaby’s pleading wails. In
“Ballad for Paul” the piano overtones present a sorrowful counterpoint to
the bass plucks and bowing that underlie the harmonics (captured
magnificently by recording engineer Eduardo Vinhas). And, that includes Sousa’s
colourful cymbal and drum work, “Mix in By Standing Out” combines moments
of grace beneath its despondent themes.

Maybe probably the most attention-grabbing tune on the album can be its longest –
“Montanha” – which in Portuguese means mountain. It opens with Branco’s
wistful strains which appear to suggest a distant view of some mountain panorama
that stretches without end. Importantly, Branco’s efforts are given house by
the opposite musicians to totally come to life. After a pause, the music turns
bluesy once more – nearly like a New Orleans funeral procession – suggesting
the odd mixture of disappointment and pleasure. And for individuals who like pure free
enjoying, the quantity “Freebus,” is not going to disappoint. Particularly pleasurable
right here is Branco’s use of the higher registers of the piano so as to add sprinkles,
taste, and hops to the combination.

Those that take pleasure in a various palette of musical influences interspersed with
improvisations that problem whereas remaining grounded will most actually
take pleasure in One other State of Rhythm. Its compositions tinged with melancholy
are a related reflection of right now’s more and more disappointing world.