Michel Stawicki - sax
Uygur Vural - cello
Elisabetta Lanfrendini - voice
João Madeira - doublebass
Luiz Rocha - clarinets
Reviews:
***** MUEJL: By Breakfast 4DRCD008 Michel
Stawicki (ts); Uygur Vural (clo); Elisabetta Lanfredini
(voice); João Madeira (b): Luiz Rocha (cl, bcl). June
2022.
"Covid era is gone and now we can record live with
several people! Here comes a recording of the quintet
MUEJL, including Michel Stawicki on tenor, Uygur Vural
on cello, Elisabetta Lanfredini using her voice, João
Madeira on double bass, and Luiz Rocha on clarinet and
bass clarinet.
MUEJL is absolutely great, creating a combination of
real and fake sounds, with amazing voice lead of Elisabetta.
The quintet plays 9 short miniature each very
dierent and diverse. Everybody is superimportant here,
but I would say that the double bass and cello play more
a "section" role, while the "melodic" instruments: the
tenor, the clarinets and the voice lead the improvisation.
All the songs are worth a major sin, but I dig as always
the longest ones: "Kia's vocal calls" and "Ohai Forest
Suite" (both nearly 8 minutes), and also a little shorter,
but free jazz-noise and avantgarde oriented "Yasish-Yasish"."
Maciej Lewenstein
---------------------
"The name of the group combines the initials of the first names of each instrumentalist and the vocalist, Elisabetta Lanfredini. Michel Stawicki on tenor sax, Uygur Vural on cello, Elisabetta on voice, João Madeira on double bass and Luiz Rocha on clarinet. A coherent formation: two strings, one voice and two blowers and well-balanced instantaneous compositions where mutual listening and the right distribution of energy and attention in space are concentrated. Nine rather short pieces between two, three or four minutes, the two longest reaching 7'34'' and 7'27''. Bassist João Madeira is undoubtedly the initiator of this recording under the hat of producer and mixer-master, and it is worth highlighting the aesthetic variety of the excellent projects he presents on his recently inaugurated 4DAR label. Some albums, such as Cochlea (João Madeira and José Oliveira), focus on an individual in-depth work of the sound material and a radical conception of the interactivity between two very close musicians, in this case a double bass player and a percussionist. By Breakfast, at the breakfast he has just left when the recording machine starts up in front of this particular quintet. It has to be said that with such instrumentation, one is entitled to music that deviates from the beaten track of free music, that aesthetic zone where the systematic presence of blowers, double bass and drums predominates. With this quintet, multiple sonic occurrences are born, each "idea" or "canvas" is developed according to a particular recipe. This is the moment to discover the typically orchestral work of the bass clarinet with its irregular scansions and strong licks, breath effects that join in a beautiful communion with the cadences of the cello and the double bass, buzzing rubs, squeaks, pressed bows, held notes, crazy guigues and precise interventions. João Madeira's powerful pizzicato, always welcome at the right moment, creating the backbone of several pieces with taste. Elisabetta Lanfredini's bouncy chatter turns into a powerful and imposing song, an inspired talk-singing, an improbable rhyme or a tribal incantation. Beautiful. And Michel Stawicki's half-hearted additions: ah, is there a tenor sax? And the cello finale with its Central Asian flavour. This musician has integrated the spirit of the meeting very well. There is a beautiful improvised activity of exchange, sharing and concerted invention, without the least bit of chatter, which forces admiration, among other things, by the constant renewal of inspiration and the subtle use of compositional processes organically integrated into the collective improvisation. A great collective success."
Jean-Michel van Schouwburg,
orynx-improvandsounds.blogspot.com
released February 3, 2023
All music composed by Michel Stawicki, Uygur Vural, Elisabetta Lanfrendini, João Madeira and Luiz Rocha
Recorded in Lisbon on June, 7th 2022
Mixed and Mastered by João Madeira
Produced by João Madeira / 4DaRecord
Original Art Collage Cover "Untitled" by Nina Fraser
Concept Design by Paulo Teixeira Lopes
4DaRecord 2022
4DRCD006