This is the second volume of the in-progress cross pollination of two geographical forces in the domains of creative jazz and free improvisation, a Portuguese one, represented by trumpeter Luís Vicente and guitarist Marcelo dos Reis, and a French one, put to action by the brothers Théo and Valentin Ceccaldi. The ground for this collaborative work is chamber music, the way we perceive it in the 21st century, and both the technical and the aesthetics of the renewed encounter happening inside Chamber 4 are in full improvisation: no scores, no structures of any kind, no previous discussions about what to do or not to do or any type of conceptual reasoning. What comes up is what naturally happens in the given context, and that’s why the liner notes refer the interplay of chaos and order. The order, we can understand while listening, emerging from chaos itself, and the in-the-moment intuition becoming a compositional tool, via sedimentation of elements, elliptical spontaneous organization, repetition and a sense of collective completeness based on controlled individual contributions. This is why the quartet seems to «move as one», even if «in all directions», «out of joy» and «out of distress», as Stef Gijssels writes. Who said everything was already done in the contains of improvised music? Not at all, and “City of Light” is a fundamental new chapter of that always unfinished enterprise.

All Music by Luís Vicente, Marcelo dos Reis, Théo Ceccaldi and Valentin Ceccaldi

Recorded live in concert by Sebastien Bedrunes on April 28th, 2016 at Les Soirées Tricot Festival in Paris | Mixed and mastered by Marcelo dos Reis
Produced by Chamber 4 | Executive Production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Photo by Jean-Pascal Retel | Design and Artwork by Travassos