New Albums
AMARO FREITAS
Brazilian pianist’s minimalist tribute to his African ancestors
Sankofa FAR OUT
8/10
Hailing from the north-eastern Brazilian state of Recife, Amaro Freitas is a wonderfully idiosyncratic jazz pianist with a devilishly accomplished classical technique. Thematically, his third album explores the ancient philosophies of Black Brazil, but does so by using very precise, repetitive, trance-like compositional structures that invoke the shifting time signatures and additive elements of minimalism. On tracks such as “Cazumbà” and “Ayeye” he plays repeated octaves, at high speed, over fiddly drum and bass grooves; on “Malakoff” he rattles through incredibly complex chord cycles; while “Nascimento” and “Vila Bela” are hypnotic ballads that do this with much more delicacy.