Vancouver Jazz Festival live review by VIVOSCENE.COM
"Carmen Souza, the Cape Verdean-raised, London-based jazz/morna singer came to the Vancouver Jazz Fest last night, little known to most North American jazz fans, and two hours later had several hundred new and ardent devotees. She is a singer with extraordinary vocal facility, and her performance was proof once again that great music breaks down all barriers, especially that of language. With the backing of Matt King on scintillating piano, Theo Pas’cal on bass and stand-up double bass (the latter an instrument of extraordinary beauty), and Mauricio Zottarelli on percussion, Carmen played most of her September 2012 album Kachupada, her third studio release in the past four years. She alternated on guitar and piano, revealing considerable keyboard skills, that while not yet the pianist that jazz wizard Matt King is, she showed remarkable poise.
The new album’s title emanates from the name of a popular
West African stew which combines many tasty ingredients. And such was her performance:
a delicious mix of morna, jazz, scat, and sensuous vocalese so inventive that
it has to be savoured live to experience Carmen’s eclectism. She has a way with
a lyric unlike anyone else on the musical scene today- it’s soulful, with
countless twists and turns she gives to the lyrical line that register in the
listener with both pleasure and an instant understanding of her vocal
sublimity. Whether she is is delivering a new take on “My Favorite Things” or a
tender ballad in “On Na Tarrafal” or a Brazilian languidly simmering stew with
“Vida Facile”, you can never quite tell where she going with a song: from
breathy coos to throaty growls to sultry straight-on delivery, Carmen is a
passionate performer who engages her audience.
She began as a gospel singer when she was seventeen, and
counts Cesaria Evoria and Horace Silver as her prime influences, particularly
Silver, whom she named as a great inspiration to her. Last night’s tribute to
Silver,entitled “Song For My Father” was especially moving, bringing forth
stellar performances from her band, effortlessly showing Carmen’s virtuoso
ability to deliver a long vocal line faultlessly, soulfully, and, just as with
every number she performed, so “swinging” that it’s almost impossible to sit
still in one’s chair and simply listen. Throughout the show she brought to mind
that old Robert Johnson number ‘Walkin’ Blues”, in which he sings:
She’s got the Elgin movement from her head down to her toes,
She breaks in on a dollar most anywhere she goes..
Just as influential in her development is her twelve year
collaboration with her bassist and arranger Theo Pas’Cal, who dominated several
numbers with his focused and evocative bass work. Theo plays a significant role
as producer, arranger, and musical amanuensis of her band, although frankly
Carmen’s vocal inventions are so extraordinary they would shine in almost any
setting. However, the bottom, the foundation of any band is the rhythm section,
and here is where Theo illuminates every song. He is omnipresent, without being
overbearing. He’s clearly a major talent. His arranging ability, exemplified by
the band’s performance of the Charlie Parker/Miles classic “Donna Lee” was a
revelation: a terrific backbeat with button accordion and a supremely elegant,
triple-time scat vocal. Says Carmen about working with Theo:
“In all our productions there is never a pre-production;
what we feel in the moment, the energy and inspiration and the spontaneous note
is what we capture.”
Oh, and one more thing. I personally have never witnessed a
performer who took so much delight in the performances of her fellow bandmates.
Carmen herself summed it up when she spoke about recording Kapuchada, the
careful decision on the album’s title, and the obvious joy she and her band
take in composing, playing and performing:
“There’s a parallel between food and music. They both open
the appetite.”
Carmen recently revealed a new direction for her music:
We are now working on a different project that involves me
more in a instrumentalist point of view. The voice is still there, and I will
continue to explore my natural instrument but right now I’m searching to find
my voice as a pianist as well … so we are developing a project where we gather
several influences from Cape Verde to Portugal, North Africa and the Lusophone
countries. It’s almost like the history of our origin, which is Portuguese …
the places that Portugal discovered, the images and the feelings that they had
finding other worlds. It’s almost like bringing the whole world together in the
music. I’m very excited about it.”
She’s touring extensively this summer and performing in Jazz
Festivals around the globe. Catch her if you can. She’s a marvel. So much so
that we predict one day music writers and fans will be referring to the
achievements of new generations of vocal jazz prodigies as “Souzean”."
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