| The release of this new recording by Portuguese pianist Bernardo Sassetti is one of those moments that give full meaning to the whole activity of a record label like Clean Feed. In Indigo Sassetti proves himself to be one of the most talented piano players in the jazz world.
The coherence, deepness and poetry of his music touch us permanently in a way only great musicians do. In the first record, Indigo, Sassetti explores his own compositions together with some tunes from other composers, achieving a perfect integration between both, like they were all his own. The music is simultaneously strong and peaceful and the musical lines flow with a clearness that let us guess the pianist musical thought.
To talk about Bernardo Sassetti as a composer and instrumentalist is to talk about someone whose singularity is unquestionable. In Indigo Sassetti reflects his many sides, while revealing an extreme care with the piano timbre. His pedal work and the way he strikes the keys don’t leave any doubts that we are before a technically irreprehensible pianist to whom the sound of his instrument reveals itself as an integral part of a personal musical manifesto.
The arrangements and compositions of this great pianist are taken to the limits in the way they evolve. Harmonically, Sassetti has the capability of incorporating such diverse aspects as his own personal history, the fact that he is Portuguese, a jazz pianist and that he is a classically trained musician.
If harmony is important, time is fundamental to understand Sassetti’s music. It’s in silence and in the way he deals with it that Sassetti becomes a magician, leaving listeners with the feeling that the notes reverberate in the moment they are created and not just simply because they are written. |