released January 16, 2021

Recorded Live by Miguel Azguime at O'Culto da Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal.
Mastered by João Madeira.
Cover Photography by Hernâni Faustino.
Inside Photography by Nuno Martins.
FMRCD591-0920

"The rarity of two virtuoso Portuguese bass players duelling away pushing, listening, responding in a very delightfully creative way. Hernâni Faustino and João Madeira are the cream de la cream in Portuguese in music circles playing in many of the leading bands both as leaders and sidemen.Here they have free reign to run amok in there veery bass sound world, it works exceptionally well, with crystal clear sound and each panned to a different side they explore and celebrate everything you can do on a double bass, and its always musical and compelling. Recorded in Lisbon DB Duet is the state of the art bass playing, but it is more !! Much more!!!"
FMR Records
FMR RECORDS
22 WESTERN ROAD
RAYLEIGH
ESSEX
UNITED KINGDOM
SS6 7AX
TELEPHONE:0044 (0)778 686 4263
www.fmr-records.com

Reviews:

"Two Portuguese double bass players with their respective instruments, their fingers and their bows (twenty-two in total), three tracks with all-encompassing titles (Primeira e Segunda Parte, Final), fifty abundant minutes of music, twenty years of human and artistic partnership; this, in the (not always) arid logic of numbers, is the album we are referring to.

Not always arid, in fact, the whole, seeing as how the work is anything but this; it’s instead a melting pot of constant emotions, solid in sound, in how it unfolds, in the concepts underlying it, in a very intelligent intersection, between bowed and plucked (together, separate, alternating), in never taking anything for granted, instead constantly activating the (sacred?) fire of inspiration, of inventing more or less on the spot (the long practice and reciprocity make each passage appear more strongly pondered, sought after and desired).

First of all, the sound; beautiful, full and rich with nuances. Wanted: constant, never banal or left to the conditioned reflex, to routine, that even in the avant-garde (and how!) it often proliferates without too many hesitations. The structure: as said before, very solid, whether it is studied at the table or found in the field (little changes, for what has been said), even more so in a situation like this - live - photographed here. In short, if talking about a masterpiece is always challenging, if not right there, here we are very, very close." Alerto Bazurro, "Musica Jazz"

"Prior to approaching a double bass duo, we sense that the ear membranes will be stimulated and (hopefully) rewarded by the intensity of selected nuances. At the same time, it is understood that the talkative overlapping of two identical instruments often leads to a gruesome sterility, thanks to which finalizing the listening process becomes an exhausting exercise in mental resilience.

Not so when the instrumentalists are resourceful – and, as in this case, longtime friends. Hernâni Faustino and João Madeira know the double bass as well as themselves, and are not afraid of walking every meter of the lengthy route to the place of improvisational significance. The point where not only the idea itself is inevitably expressed “as is”, but reveals a purity of purpose which was probably there even before the act.

The three parts of dB Duet, recorded live at Lisbon’s O’Culto da Ajuda during an unspecified evening, include all that is useful in terms of coherence, sharpness and timbral seeking not necessarily derived from drastic criteria. We welcome the interweaving of bows, strings and resounding woods as if intent in reading a book by a reliable author. The acoustic grain exhibited by the pair reminds of the importance of a vibratory phenomenon as a means of communication with an innerspace more and more difficult to defend in these times of pitiful superficiality cheaply dressed in “spiritual” commonplace. If, in the midst of all this, the resulting music comes across as a spontaneous architecture of excellent quality, so much the better." Massimo Ricci, "Touching Extremes"

"Também na sala da Miso Music, O’Culto da Ajuda, João Madeira gravou ao vivo um duo de contrabaixos partilhado com Hernâni Faustino (RED Trio), agora editado sob o título dB Duet, encontro de duas linguagens que tanto apontam para uma sintonia quanto para um pronunciado contraste (decorrente de percursos bastante distintos) ao longo de uma correnteza de oscilações inventadas em palco, enquanto colocam em diálogo instrumentos munidos das mesmas características. Mais do que explorações tímbricas, dB Duet leva a jogo duas permanentes visões plásticas num movimento pendular entre atracção e repulsa. No fundo, ferramentas para pôr a música em marcha e não a deixar estacionar num mesmo lugar." Gonçalo Frota, Jornal "Público"

"After more than twenty years of friendship and musical collaboration, the two Portuguese double bass players Hernâni Faustinoand João Madeira did a short tour in Lisbon, recording 2 concerts at O'Culto da Ajuda, of which we listen to the most interesting excerpts here. The two musicians have often collaborated, with a rich discography behind them, together with many exponents of the contemporary avant-garde and have the experience and technical skills to make a record like this. It is appreciated from the beginning for the beautiful interaction of the instruments, a relaxed dialogue that immediately goes in tune with the listener's expectations, capable of involving with notes that express the desire to make music together. It is a language of their own, personal, happily recorded, intense, in which something important is told, leaving aside any banality. You get to the end of the record effortlessly, almost lulled by the strings of the two." Vittorio, MuzicZoom

Rui Eduardo Paes, Jazz.pt
"A foto do interior deste “digipack” é bem elucidativa do que foi o concerto aqui registado: no palco estão dois contrabaixos e respectivos executantes, João Madeira e Hernâni, rodeados por uma floresta de colunas de som, ou o local não fosse o O’culto da Ajuda, em Lisboa, e o responsável da gravação Miguel Azguime, conhecido pela Orquestra de Altifalantes com que habitualmente apresenta composições acusmáticas, suas e de outros autores. Graves, agudos e intermédios são exponenciados por vários canais. Ouvimos o mais pequeno pormenor do que cada um dos músicos faz, como se estivéssemos uns centímetros diante dos instrumentos (mais ainda se a escuta for realizada com auscultadores). Ou seja, as três faixas do CD são de um maximalismo impressionante em termos de clareza, presença e detalhe, como se fosse possível observar a criação musical ao microscópio (ao telescópio?). Só que, neste caso, trata-se de música integralmente improvisada.

É a uma conversa entre iguais que assistimos, mas esta não se desenvolve em termos de concordância – algo que, ingenuamente, se entende que a música deve ser, uma incorporação una, cerzida, frankensteiniana, de cabeças, troncos e membros. A comunicação humana é bem mais complexa e contraditória do que isso, e o que vem nesta edição da inglesa FMR (sempre atenta ao que se faz em Portugal) surge-nos, sim, como um deleuziano corpo sem órgãos. Madeira e Faustino podem, por vezes, entrar em sintonia, mas no essencial o que ouvimos é discordância, contra-argumentação, conflito. Ora, o conflito é criativo e um importantíssimo factor de intriga, e o que este disco nos traz é precisamente isso, intriga, narrativa, uma sucessão de ideias com as suas lógicas específicas, que não apenas intuitivas (pois, há aquela noção de que improvisar é apenas intuir), e de histórias com registos emocionais vários, podendo ir do lamento à raiva e da explosão de alegria a uma imensa melancolia em poucos minutos. Nenhum dos contrabaixistas dirige ou acompanha, não há primeiros planos nem submissões ou estares passivos: tudo o que acontece, acontece em liberdade. Quem disse que até a um nível interpessoal tem de haver hierarquias?"

\noindent{\bf **** João Madeira \& Hernâni Faustino: dB Duet}
{\it Hern\^ani Faustino (b); João Madeira (b).} 2020.
The year 2021 is very fertile with respect to double bass duos. After the magnificent 3 CDs box of Damon Smith with Peter Kowald, Joëlle Léandre, and Bertram Turetzky, comes this gem, recorded Live by Miguel Azguime at O'Culto da Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal. Herhâni and João play a suite in three parts, combining obviously both bowing and finger picking, with all the more advances "prepared" bass techniques, alternative and "fake" sounds, and all that."Primeira Parte" lasts over 19 minutes and has moderate toward slow tempo. "Segunda Parte" last 24 and a half minute, and is slower, more meditative and abstract. In terms of emotional and expressive content the most dense is "Final", however, even though it is the shortest, less than 8 minutes long part. Great, absorbing music...\\ Maciej Lewenstein




"The indecisive rhythm of the FMR label's website updates means that this fine work, dB, has eluded my sagacity since 2020. Since then, bassist João Madeira has let water flow under the bridge, or bridges, of his bass and that of his friend Hernani Faustino, a key bassist on the Lusitanian scene, the one who opens the hatches ... or ... Portuguese. As the great Johannes Rosenberg stated in his numerous treatises and missives, the stringed instruments of the violin family (viola, cello and double bass) never get along better than together, to the exclusion of the others (saxophones, percussion, pianos etc.). And these two Portuguese have a lot to live up to with the proximity of Zingaro, Mira, Rodrigues father and son... And so here is something to marvel at, even if the fingers are often agitated in a beautiful variety of expressive pizzicatos.
Double bass duets. We remember Barre Phillips and David Holland, Music from Two Basses (ECM 1011), Peter Kowald's encounters with Barre Phillips (Random Generators), Maarten Altena (Two Making a Triangle), Barry Guy (Paintings) for FMP, Arcus by Phillips and Guy in the chapelle Ste Philomène, Joëlle Léandre and William Parker in Dunois or Damon Smith's Mirrors Broken But No Dust with the same Kowald and also Beb Guérin and François Méchali at the beginning of the Nato adventure. .. Tensid by Georg Wolf and Ulrich Phillip for Nur Nicht Nur. And this quartet in homage to Peter Kowald with Barre, Joëlle, Tetsu and William published by Victo. Sorry for the above-mentioned unpacking of the almost complete catalogue. But the double bass, a low, slightly clumsy instrument, is one of the indispensable cornerstones of radical free music: it allows for all kinds of slippage, transgressions, deceptions, strings slamming on the fragile fingerboard, extreme glissandi in the treble, noisy or subtle col legno, multiphonics pressed outrageously on the fingerboard, powerful rumblings, ample and woody movements, reckless outbursts, and infinite nuances. So let's forget about pianos, saxophones, guitars, coordinated or wild drums and let us be won over by this gestural asceticism, this physical and mental union that Faustino and João offer us with their two double basses that multiply and complement each other. Unique and unexpected. Hold on to your hats and give it your all! It's an adventure in the dust of lost paths far from the usual." Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, orynx-improvandsounds.blogspot.com