Portuguese pianist Daniel Bernardes studied both composition (with Emmanuel Nunes and Karlheinz Stockhausen) and jazz (with Carlos Barretto and João Paulo Esteves da Silva, two names of the Clean Feed catalogue). “Liturgy of the Birds” comes from his explorations of Olivier Messiaen’s compositional techniques, applied here to a jazz setting, bringing together a piano jazz trio (with double bassist António Augusto Aguiar and drummer Mário Costa, the same of “Oxy Patina” and the Emile Parisien Sfumato Quintet) with Drumming GP, an international reference in the world of modern percussion. “Liturgy of the Birds” is an hommage to Olivier Messiaen, alluding to his profound devotion to Christianity and his love of the birds to the point of notating and using their chants throughout his works. To Bernardes, «the language of Messiaen is a possible path to contemporary jazz», and listening to this astonishing record we have to agree with him. If you’re searching for something new and surprising, search no more: here it is.

All compositions by Daniel Bernardes

Recorded by Mário Marques at Centro Cultural e de Congressos das Caldas da Rainha, February 10,11 and 12  2018 | Mixed and Mastered by Mário Marques at Loft Records
Daniel Bernardes recorded on a Steinway and Sons Concert Grand Piano (Model D), with technical support by Fernando Rosado | Photography by Nanã Sousa Dias
Produced by Daniel Bernardes | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos