Azar Azar - Cosmic Drops [2023]

DESCARGA (320 Kbps)

A surrealistic space travel, around sounds, and colours… A melancholic journey through different music places, where you can just seat back and chill, watching the autumn leaves falling from the trees… where you can dance like nobody's watching, to a drum’n’bass beat and imagine that you are at a Bristol dark club in the late 90’s, or at an afrobeat party in Lagos… or just drinking a caipirinha with Carmen Miranda… all this in less than 45 minutes, it’s cheaper than flying with a low cost airline company, and better for the environment...

I met Sérgio Alves when he was playing with the Groovelvets. I

immediately felt I was dealing with a special musician. It wasn’t

easy to find a keyboard player that could embody the diferent

expressions of African- American music, and its characteristic

groove in Portugal among the musicians of my generation.

Even though I had been A&R for over twenty years, I just came

across with the special João Gomes, and little else. Sharing the

love for the African- American sounds, straightened our

relationship, and I had the privilege of having all the keyboards

on my mini-LP Bonfim, played by Sérgio. I was also able to see the

development of the initial demos, the raw material that was in the

origin of Azar Azar, the musical adventure in which, for the first

time, he fully exposes his artistic personality.

He debuted the project with an E.P., on the brand new and

admirable Jazzego, in 2020.

Although only two of the five songs, that make up the EP, are

original work (the remaining three are remixes by K15, Minus +

MRDolly and Esa), the record was a beautiful calling card, but it

hadn't prepared me for the piece of work that was

about to come to my hands.

Like other musicians of his generation, Sérgio Alves grew up in the

midst of the development of Hip Hop, House, Techno, Broken Beat

and many other expressions of the most modern dance music. He

even has 20 years of a consistent career as a Dj. And that seems

to have contributed to the way he consolidates his musical

personality, allowing him to control an immensity of musical

impulses.

It is true that his compositions are settled in Jazz Funk, but,

throughout the eight tracks of his debut LP, we can feel the

inspiration of huge figures such as Roy Ayers, George Duke or

Donald Byrd that are intersected by the presence of a

kaleidoscopic variety of genres that have filled dance floors, from

Detroit to New York or London, in such a way that allows the

creation of piece of music that can be seen as autonomous,

intense, stimulating, personalized and relevant in any place of the

planet.

In this year of 2023.

Pedro Tenreiro

17th Jan 2023 

released 10 de março de 2023

A1. Space Gazing

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass - Bruno Macedo;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Flute - João Samuel;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Keys & Sampling - Sérgio Alves;

Trumpet - Gileno Santana.

A2. Miles Backyard

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass - Pedro Ferreira;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Flute - João Samuel;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Keys & Sampling - Sérgio Alves;

Trumpet - Gileno Santana.

A3. Dreaming Waves

Music - Azar Azar;

Lyrics - Beth Hirsch;

Bass - Bruno Macedo;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Flute - João Samuel;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Keys & Sampling - Sérgio Alves;

Trombone - João Sêco;

Trumpet - João Sousa;

Vocals - Beth Hirsch.

A4. Instant Star

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass & Keys - Sérgio Alves.

B5. Golden Wonderland

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass - Bruno Macedo;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Keys & Sampling - Sérgio Alves;

Trumpet - Gileno Santana;

Vibraphone - Eduardo Cardinho.

B6. Subway

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass, Drums, Keys & Samples - Sérgio Alves;

Saxophone Tenor - João Samuel.

B7. Moving in Outer Space

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass - Bruno Macedo;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Saxophone Tenor & Baritone - João Samuel

Keys & Sampling - Sérgio Alves;

Trombone - João Sêco

Trumpet - João Sousa

B8. Sunlight

Music - Azar Azar;

Bass - Bruno Macedo;

Drums - Ricardo Danin;

Percussion - Manu Idhra;

Saxophone Tenor - João Samuel.

Keys, Sampling & Vocals- Sérgio Alves;

Mixing - Sérgio Alves

Dreaming Waves Mixed by New Max

Mastering - Reel Mastering Studio

Design - Ricardo Leite

hip hop jazz jazz fusion dance music jazz lo.fi world fusion Porto