Ivo Perelman Autobiography

I remember pretty well when I first listened to Ivo Perelman’s music.
I was still in college, and the albums I had in hand were “The Children of Ibeji” and “Man of the Forest”, which left me completely stunned, almost paralyzed, with that enthralling combination of Brazilian music and free improvisation.

At that time, I was just starting to explore the free jazz scene and Ivo’s albums inevitably occupied a prominent place in my discography.
Since then, I became an avid follower of his work and have to say it’s inevitably rewarding and challenging to listen to such a relentless explorer with a limitless vision. Thus, it’s no surprise that he keeps creating compulsively as one of the most resplendent voices of the modern free jazz panorama.

In this particular live recording, which I had the
pleasure to attend, Ivo is accompanied by two frequent collaborators, the bassist Joe Morris and the drummer Gerald Cleaver, also dominant figures of the most adventurous jazz currents. Together, they show to have an impromptu synergy that keeps dragging us into a universe of gratifying fresh ideas and infinite colors.

When Perelman performs, one never knows what to expect.
It’s frequent to identify shades of Coltrane, Ayler, and Monk amidst his provocative patterns and rhythmic motifs. Here, he also suggests typical Brazilian melodies and incurs in a trippy dance that transports us to the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
Everything is valid and beautifully unanticipated.

This concept gains a sharper focus when there’s a powerful rhythm section involved, and the saxophonist has found a solid foundation in his peers. Morris is super-intuitive and possesses a vigorous approach; Cleaver has everything we can ask from a contemporary drummer, from passionate sensitivity to sublime technique.
The trio, proving to have an impressive ear, works tightly to assure that their different forms of expression are going to compose an organic whole.
Said in other words: they’re true masters in the art of interact and generate musical impressions.

We can find moments of pure magic within this revolutionary aesthetic, regardless if the mood is uproariously breathtaking through well-controlled chaos dominated by transcendental saxophone catharses, or conspicuously intimate, and consequently smoother and
erudite.

This is an album for the ones who are not afraid to feel, to experience, to be violently shaken, to touch the untouchable.
Stimulating, extravagant, and urgent, the sixth volume of the series “The Art of the Improv Trio” is an improvisational tour de force that marks another golden cycle in Perelman’s musical career.
Personally, I would like to thank Ivo, not only for all these years of boundless music but also for having remained faithful to his own beliefs.