Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers

© Joan Cortès
© Clara Conill
@ Joan Cortès
© Xavi Almirall
© Joan Cortès

ORIOL ROCA TRIO & LYNN CASSIERS

 

 

Catalan drummer and composer Oriol Roca has been leading his own trio –Oriol Roca Trio– since 2017 with pianist Giovanni Di Domenico and double bassist Manolo Cabras, two important figures in the jazz and European improvisation scene with whom Oriol Roca has been collaborating for more than twenty years.

 

The album Mar released by the Belgian label El Negocito Records in 2017, praised by critics and awarded in Catalonia with the Enderrock Award for Best Jazz Album 2018, marked the debut of Oriol Roca as leader and composer with a record of high emotional intensity, leading him to participate on many occasions in northern Europe and to strengthen ties with the scene of the Belgian musical avant-garde.

 

 

 

 

In 2022 and after the stoppage imposed by the pandemic, Oriol Roca Trio returns and does so with Lynn Cassiers, singer and soundscaper based in Brussels considered one of the most remarkable voices in the European improvisation scene, capable to use any genre of music without prejudice to create her own label-free music universe, as evidenced by her acclaimed latest album YUN released with the prestigious label Clean Feed.

 

Lynn Cassiers’ collaboration with Oriol Roca Trio further strengthens the desire to put the melody at the center of the trio’s sound, establishing a natural communication between the four musicians based on complicity, risk and friendship built throughout over 20 years of making music together.

 

The premiere of the project Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers took place during the Alhamabra Vic Jazz Festival on May 2022 in an exclusive concert, a co-production between Alhambra Vic Jazz Festival and the catalan record label Underpool. The concert was recorded live at the Jazz Cava de Vic and was released by Underpool on February 11th 2023 in vinyl format:

 


 

 

ORIOL ROCA TRIO & LYNN CASSIERS – Live at Jazz Cava 

 

Lynn Cassiers: voice, electronics

Giovanni Di Domenico: piano

Manolo Cabras: double bass

Oriol Roca: drums, compositions

Album review by Georges Tonla Briquet on Jazzhalo.be

 

“Opening with a song title like “What’s The Point?” testifies the vision and attitude that characterizes this foursome. They put the world into perspective and constantly question themselves. The contrast of freedom versus connectedness also emerges. Musically, that is a fact that fits this group like a glove. They know each other through and through, as a result of which both concepts are continuously magnified by each other. The freedom is guaranteed to improvise to your heart’s content, but this is done within the limit of mutual uniformity.”

 

 

Album review (****) by Jean-Claude Vantroyen on Le Soir

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and composer from Barcelona. He regularly came to Belgium, accompanied by two of the best musicians and improvisers on the Belgian jazz scene, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano and Manolo Cabras on double bass, two Italians based in Brussels. Their music is based on their complicity, which thus weaves natural, melodic, harmonic improvisations, full of sensitivity. For their performance at the Vic Jazz Festival in Barcelona, ​​in May 2022, they enlisted the exceptional voice and inventive electronic landscapes of the Belgian Lynn Cassiers. This concert at the Jazz Cava was fortunately recorded. This is what is offered today. And these are 43 minutes of beauty on the music of Oriol and the words of Lynn, which are the starting point for poetic improvisations. I love Lynn’s way of creating soundscapes, of painting sometimes elegiac, sometimes mysterious paintings with her airy voice, slightly transformed by electronics. I also love his liveliness in creating sound effects, layers, echoes to support the music. And what about Oriol, Giovanni and Manolo, who intertwine harmonies and melodies in the most lively and beautiful way to support Lynn’s lyrics? This very personal, very original album arouses emotions, leads to dreams, broadens horizons. The group is on April 28 at Sounds in Ixelles.”

 

 

Album review by Candido Querol on B!ritmos

 

“Oriol Roca, Barcelona 1979 is a composer and drummer of what we can consider European free jazz. And I say European because his formations have musicians of different nationalities. While he maintains his trio Tàlveg, together with Marcel·li Bayer (sax) and Ferran Fages (guitar) or MUT trio with Miguel Fernández (sax) and Albert Juan (guitar), all Catalan and interested in improvisation like him. In this case, he returns to his “European” trio with the Italians Manolo Cabras (double bass) and Giovanni Di Domenico (piano) with whom he had already recorded MAR (El Negocito records, 2017). And with whom he has other duet recordings. In fact, he already met Di Domenico at the Conservatory in The Hague twenty years ago and immediately began to play together united by that fondness for improvisation that they still practice. In this Live at Jazz Cava (UnderPool 2023) the trio is joined by the singer soundscaper Lynn Cassiers, for some the most unique vocalist in Belgian jazz and improvisation. On first listening to the album (I’ve had a few) it reminded me of the work of Rebekka Bakken (vocals) and Wolfgang Muthspiel (guitar) on the wonderful Daily Mirror Material records, 2000. But let’s go with the compositions of this Live at Jazz Cava, recorded by UnderPool live at the Jazz Cava in Vic. The first theme is “What’s the Point?”. Drums entrance, original start showing arms. And the voice and the double bass twinned in a line of work. Cabras rises above the rest and the first electronic dalliances mix fluidly with Cassiers’ voice and the soundscape takes shape in my head. The music is signed by Roca and the lyrics by Cassiers, but immediately improvisation prevails and everyone works on that sound layer that we like so much. “I should be going”. Now it is Di Domenico’s piano who introduces the theme, close to the old spirituals, the first two minutes are for him. Cassiers joins in, what a beautiful voice! But Cabras takes the bow (I suppose) and the “irreverent” sounds take over the situation. Suddenly a world of “antichrist” appears to cover up the old spiritual sounds and that change makes the song turn 180 degrees, leaving the last two minutes for Di Doménico to reintroduce them all back to the church. “Low”, now it’s time for Cabras to start, a hurtful pulsation, perfectly combined with the rest who aren’t looking for melodies either, all creating tense environments that force us / allow us to imagine where we are going. Another formation in which Roca collaborates comes to mind, the Piccola Orchestra Gagarin with the Sardinian Paolo Angeli (guitar) and the Russian Sahsa Agranov (cello) and specifically a concert in which they accompanied Mariola Membrives, stuffed in those astronauts (because of Gagarin). But let’s get on with the record. “The Mutilated” is an adaptation of the poem El Mutilat by Gabriel Ferrater (Reus, 1922). It is interesting to read the poem to see how Roca’s composition has managed to enter into that state of mind of the words that Ferrater left us. The instruments know how to respect the rhythm of the singer and Cassiers knows (very well accompanied by the piano) rise and fall in waves of emotions. Interchangeably using song and narration as required by the text. “No time”, suggests a traditional song to me. With that piano accompanying the narration, that voice that rises like the one telling a story. “No hard feelings” is a beautiful ballad, improvisation and free for a moment have left a space for the jazz trio and a beautiful voice to let us get excited from the most “classical” jazz. A bit like those paintings by abstract painters, in which people exclaim, see how they also know how to paint! As the hand strikes, then gives a flower… to finish “Carousel,” which once again bets on the freedom of execution, Roca sets a rhythm of “whoever wants to follow me” and the whole group launches into playing freely. As said, an album to listen to many times and enjoy more and more.”

 

 

Concert review by Martí Farré on Núvol

 

“One of the most remarkable merits of this encounter was the style of the proposal itself, difficult to categorize, which is no small thing: straddling pop, contemporary jazz, song, electronica… The other was the convergence between two aesthetic universes, that of Roca and that of Cassiers, with a long, fruitful and experienced trajectory separately. And what at first could seem like a superimposition of sound layers – the trio of Oriol Roca and the spectral voice of Lynn Cassiers, supported by tricks and electronic effects – immediately became an extraordinary complement to two bands: Cassiers said and the others pointed out, even embellished – above all the pianist Di Domenico – and all together with a route that sometimes progressed by palpitations or, even, by leaps and bounds. Surprising was, in fact, the combination of fragments of high energy voltage with others of almost balladic calmness, of studied slowness. Songs, in the long run, dressed in a different aesthetic, with a very similar climatic tone – there was almost no counterpoint, no sudden turn of the script – but with a thousand and one details of excellence, with moments of brilliance individual, by everyone, and solos and accompaniments that were taught like who doesn’t want the thing.” 

 

 

Concert review by Xavier Castillón, El Punt Avui

 

“On Sunday evening, the Sala Galà in Cassà de la Selva became, thanks to the Jazzà concert series, a small refuge of peace and beauty, of music not forcedly friendly or built to please the masses or the algorithms, but made with passion and respect by musicians used to traveling and conquering the hearts of listeners step by step, without rushing. Precisely, the respect was what the Barcelona drummer and composer Oriol Roca (1979) thanked the audience present in the hall, at the end of the concert, on behalf of his colleagues: the Roman pianist Giovanni Di Domenico (1977) and the Sardinian double bassist Manolo Cabras (1971), who complete his stable trio between Brussels and Barcelona, and the Belgian singer and sonic landscaper Lyn Cassiers (1984), brilliant vocalist who truly creates unique sound spaces with her voice, the microphone that he moves closer or further away from his mouth and the machines that help him sculpt the syllables he emits like just another instrument. As Roca explained after the concert to the spectators who wanted to share an informal chat with the musicians, the album they presented in Cassà, Live at Jazz Cava, is the result of a co-production between the Vic Jazz Festival and the active label Underpool, which makes possible an old desire of Roca: to add the musicality of his trio to a vocalist, preferably Cassiers, with which had already coincided with the jazz scenes of the Belgian capital, where Cabras and Di Domenico are also installed. During the rehearsals prior to the recording of the disc in Vic, last May 7 – in fact, the first public performance of the quartet–, Roca was taking to Brussels the compositions to which Cassiers incorporated the lyrics, with the only exception is The Mutilated, which adapts and translates into English a poem by Gabriel Ferrater, which talks about emotional mutilations. Since May, the four musicians have not been on stage again until the series of concerts in Catalonia that ended on Sunday in Cassà, but their good work and their great understanding became evident during the hour in concert: a superb demonstration of contemporary jazz at this Jazzà, which thanks to the collaboration between the Culture department of Cassà City Council and Underpool is becoming an essential jazz oasis.”

 

 

Album review on New Music Jason

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and bandleader from Spain. He has been recording and performing with his Trio for over twenty years. Their latest album, Live At Jazz Cava, pairs them with Belgian vocalist Lynn Cassiers, for a seven-song set at Barcelona’s Jazz Cava de Vic. It’s dark and moody, with Cassiers’ beautiful and altered voice projecting an air of mystery. The album closes with Carousel, giving all involved a chance to show off their improvisational prowess. Go cats, go!” 

 

 

Album review on Warmth Highest

 

“Belgian jazz vocalist, and master of electronics, Lynn Cassiers, makes avant garde singing emotionally relatable on this exceptional album. It’s ethereal, dreamy, and romantic. And very human and comforting as well. The band is so incredibly outstanding. Even Cassier’s electronic accompaniment with her own voice is stellar and compliments the vibe. On all counts, it feels like she’s leading the band and boy oh boy are they quick on their toes putting forth unbelievable accompaniment. Sometimes bassist, Manolo Cabras, puts forth some initial landscape but Cassiers explores it at her own pace and pleasure and with extraordinary and pleasing confidence. Giovanni Di Domenico’s piano playing is heavily showcased on I Should Be Going but then the song takes a wild left turn into the avant garde and he comes out of it sounding something like Keith Jarrett. But he also plays in an impressionistic manner that channels Debussy. This is especially true when he’s quick on the draw to find the perfect accompaniment to Cassiers. And obviously the percussion is huge since Oriol Roca is the band leader. He and Cabras have a very intuitive relationship but he’s also impressionistic like Giovanni Di Domenico. It’s kind of odd to think of a percussionist like that but he drives the band with a dreaminess through his peculiar pace and rhythm. It’s also big. His percussion adds layers of texture in the same way electronics do in other music. Enjoy this great album.”

Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers – I Should Be Going

 

Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers – The Mutilated

 

ALBUMS

 

ORIOL ROCA TRIO & LYNN CASSIERS – LIVE AT JAZZ CAVA

Live at Jazz Cava

 

Artist : Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers
Release Date : February 11th, 2023
Label : Underpool Records
Format : Vinyl /Digital

Recorded live at Jazz Cava Vic on May 7th 2022 during the 24th Vic Jazz Festival.

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Sergi Felipe.

Photos by Joan Cortès. Design and Cover by Pepon Meneses.

Go to ORIOL ROCA TRIO & LYNN CASSIERS

 

Buy album:

Oriol Roca’s Live at Jazz Cava featuring himself alongside his regular trio with the addition of singer and soundscaper Lynn Cassiers. The album is a co-production of Festival de Jazz de Vic and the UnderPool Label. It was recorded live at the emblematic club Jazz Cava de Vic.

 

For this recording Oriol Roca is reunited with pianist Giovanni Di Domenico and double bassist Manolo Cabras, partners from countless other projects over the last 20 years. Together they have elaborated a common language which has gone on to receive abundant praise and recognition.

 

Live at Jazz Cava features the collaboration of singer and soundscaper Lynn Cassiers, one of the most remarkable voices on the current European scene. She is a natural addition to the group and enriches their sound spectrum, making herself a noteworthy contribution to the evolution of this project.

This is an immense group of musicians, each of them capable of transcending the role of their instruments in order to travel freely to unexpected places through improvisation. The music here is a testimony to their musical sensibility, energy and abundant personality.

 

Oriol Roca’s music on this album describes a vital moment, referencing emotions, and posing questions that have no answers; we glimpse new horizons and dreams evoked through the melodies of this most admired drummer.

 

The vinyl edition of this album kicks off the UnderPool label’s activity for 2023. The year also finds the label celebrating its 10th anniversary. In these 10 years UnderPool has become a reference point among independent labels by featuring locally produced contemporary jazz and it has in turn greatly contributed to the art form’s visibility.

 

 

Lynn Cassiers – Voice and Electronics

Giovanni Di Domenico – Piano

Manolo Cabras – Double Bass

Oriol Roca – Drums

 

All compositions written by Oriol Roca. Lyrics by Lynn Cassiers (except The Mutilated, translated from Gabriel Ferrater‘s poem El Mutilat).

 

www.underpool.org

Album review by Georges Tonla Briquet on Jazzhalo.be

 

“Opening with a song title like “What’s The Point?” testifies the vision and attitude that characterizes this foursome. They put the world into perspective and constantly question themselves. The contrast of freedom versus connectedness also emerges. Musically, that is a fact that fits this group like a glove. They know each other through and through, as a result of which both concepts are continuously magnified by each other. The freedom is guaranteed to improvise to your heart’s content, but this is done within the limit of mutual uniformity.”

 

 

Album review (****) by Jean-Claude Vantroyen on Le Soir

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and composer from Barcelona. He regularly came to Belgium, accompanied by two of the best musicians and improvisers on the Belgian jazz scene, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano and Manolo Cabras on double bass, two Italians based in Brussels. Their music is based on their complicity, which thus weaves natural, melodic, harmonic improvisations, full of sensitivity. For their performance at the Vic Jazz Festival in Barcelona, ​​in May 2022, they enlisted the exceptional voice and inventive electronic landscapes of the Belgian Lynn Cassiers. This concert at the Jazz Cava was fortunately recorded. This is what is offered today. And these are 43 minutes of beauty on the music of Oriol and the words of Lynn, which are the starting point for poetic improvisations. I love Lynn’s way of creating soundscapes, of painting sometimes elegiac, sometimes mysterious paintings with her airy voice, slightly transformed by electronics. I also love his liveliness in creating sound effects, layers, echoes to support the music. And what about Oriol, Giovanni and Manolo, who intertwine harmonies and melodies in the most lively and beautiful way to support Lynn’s lyrics? This very personal, very original album arouses emotions, leads to dreams, broadens horizons. The group is on April 28 at Sounds in Ixelles.”

 

 

Album review by Candido Querol on B!ritmos

 

“Oriol Roca, Barcelona 1979 is a composer and drummer of what we can consider European free jazz. And I say European because his formations have musicians of different nationalities. While he maintains his trio Tàlveg, together with Marcel·li Bayer (sax) and Ferran Fages (guitar) or MUT trio with Miguel Fernández (sax) and Albert Juan (guitar), all Catalan and interested in improvisation like him. In this case, he returns to his “European” trio with the Italians Manolo Cabras (double bass) and Giovanni Di Domenico (piano) with whom he had already recorded MAR (El Negocito records, 2017). And with whom he has other duet recordings. In fact, he already met Di Domenico at the Conservatory in The Hague twenty years ago and immediately began to play together united by that fondness for improvisation that they still practice. In this Live at Jazz Cava (UnderPool 2023) the trio is joined by the singer soundscaper Lynn Cassiers, for some the most unique vocalist in Belgian jazz and improvisation. On first listening to the album (I’ve had a few) it reminded me of the work of Rebekka Bakken (vocals) and Wolfgang Muthspiel (guitar) on the wonderful Daily Mirror Material records, 2000. But let’s go with the compositions of this Live at Jazz Cava, recorded by UnderPool live at the Jazz Cava in Vic. The first theme is “What’s the Point?”. Drums entrance, original start showing arms. And the voice and the double bass twinned in a line of work. Cabras rises above the rest and the first electronic dalliances mix fluidly with Cassiers’ voice and the soundscape takes shape in my head. The music is signed by Roca and the lyrics by Cassiers, but immediately improvisation prevails and everyone works on that sound layer that we like so much. “I should be going”. Now it is Di Domenico’s piano who introduces the theme, close to the old spirituals, the first two minutes are for him. Cassiers joins in, what a beautiful voice! But Cabras takes the bow (I suppose) and the “irreverent” sounds take over the situation. Suddenly a world of “antichrist” appears to cover up the old spiritual sounds and that change makes the song turn 180 degrees, leaving the last two minutes for Di Doménico to reintroduce them all back to the church. “Low”, now it’s time for Cabras to start, a hurtful pulsation, perfectly combined with the rest who aren’t looking for melodies either, all creating tense environments that force us / allow us to imagine where we are going. Another formation in which Roca collaborates comes to mind, the Piccola Orchestra Gagarin with the Sardinian Paolo Angeli (guitar) and the Russian Sahsa Agranov (cello) and specifically a concert in which they accompanied Mariola Membrives, stuffed in those astronauts (because of Gagarin). But let’s get on with the record. “The Mutilated” is an adaptation of the poem El Mutilat by Gabriel Ferrater (Reus, 1922). It is interesting to read the poem to see how Roca’s composition has managed to enter into that state of mind of the words that Ferrater left us. The instruments know how to respect the rhythm of the singer and Cassiers knows (very well accompanied by the piano) rise and fall in waves of emotions. Interchangeably using song and narration as required by the text. “No time”, suggests a traditional song to me. With that piano accompanying the narration, that voice that rises like the one telling a story. “No hard feelings” is a beautiful ballad, improvisation and free for a moment have left a space for the jazz trio and a beautiful voice to let us get excited from the most “classical” jazz. A bit like those paintings by abstract painters, in which people exclaim, see how they also know how to paint! As the hand strikes, then gives a flower… to finish “Carousel,” which once again bets on the freedom of execution, Roca sets a rhythm of “whoever wants to follow me” and the whole group launches into playing freely. As said, an album to listen to many times and enjoy more and more.”

 

 

Concert review by Martí Farré on Núvol

 

“One of the most remarkable merits of this encounter was the style of the proposal itself, difficult to categorize, which is no small thing: straddling pop, contemporary jazz, song, electronica… The other was the convergence between two aesthetic universes, that of Roca and that of Cassiers, with a long, fruitful and experienced trajectory separately. And what at first could seem like a superimposition of sound layers – the trio of Oriol Roca and the spectral voice of Lynn Cassiers, supported by tricks and electronic effects – immediately became an extraordinary complement to two bands: Cassiers said and the others pointed out, even embellished – above all the pianist Di Domenico – and all together with a route that sometimes progressed by palpitations or, even, by leaps and bounds. Surprising was, in fact, the combination of fragments of high energy voltage with others of almost balladic calmness, of studied slowness. Songs, in the long run, dressed in a different aesthetic, with a very similar climatic tone – there was almost no counterpoint, no sudden turn of the script – but with a thousand and one details of excellence, with moments of brilliance individual, by everyone, and solos and accompaniments that were taught like who doesn’t want the thing.” 

 

 

Concert review by Xavier Castillón, El Punt Avui

 

“On Sunday evening, the Sala Galà in Cassà de la Selva became, thanks to the Jazzà concert series, a small refuge of peace and beauty, of music not forcedly friendly or built to please the masses or the algorithms, but made with passion and respect by musicians used to traveling and conquering the hearts of listeners step by step, without rushing. Precisely, the respect was what the Barcelona drummer and composer Oriol Roca (1979) thanked the audience present in the hall, at the end of the concert, on behalf of his colleagues: the Roman pianist Giovanni Di Domenico (1977) and the Sardinian double bassist Manolo Cabras (1971), who complete his stable trio between Brussels and Barcelona, and the Belgian singer and sonic landscaper Lyn Cassiers (1984), brilliant vocalist who truly creates unique sound spaces with her voice, the microphone that he moves closer or further away from his mouth and the machines that help him sculpt the syllables he emits like just another instrument. As Roca explained after the concert to the spectators who wanted to share an informal chat with the musicians, the album they presented in Cassà, Live at Jazz Cava, is the result of a co-production between the Vic Jazz Festival and the active label Underpool, which makes possible an old desire of Roca: to add the musicality of his trio to a vocalist, preferably Cassiers, with which had already coincided with the jazz scenes of the Belgian capital, where Cabras and Di Domenico are also installed. During the rehearsals prior to the recording of the disc in Vic, last May 7 – in fact, the first public performance of the quartet–, Roca was taking to Brussels the compositions to which Cassiers incorporated the lyrics, with the only exception is The Mutilated, which adapts and translates into English a poem by Gabriel Ferrater, which talks about emotional mutilations. Since May, the four musicians have not been on stage again until the series of concerts in Catalonia that ended on Sunday in Cassà, but their good work and their great understanding became evident during the hour in concert: a superb demonstration of contemporary jazz at this Jazzà, which thanks to the collaboration between the Culture department of Cassà City Council and Underpool is becoming an essential jazz oasis.”

 

 

Album review on New Music Jason

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and bandleader from Spain. He has been recording and performing with his Trio for over twenty years. Their latest album, Live At Jazz Cava, pairs them with Belgian vocalist Lynn Cassiers, for a seven-song set at Barcelona’s Jazz Cava de Vic. It’s dark and moody, with Cassiers’ beautiful and altered voice projecting an air of mystery. The album closes with Carousel, giving all involved a chance to show off their improvisational prowess. Go cats, go!” 

 

 

Album review on Warmth Highest

 

“Belgian jazz vocalist, and master of electronics, Lynn Cassiers, makes avant garde singing emotionally relatable on this exceptional album. It’s ethereal, dreamy, and romantic. And very human and comforting as well. The band is so incredibly outstanding. Even Cassier’s electronic accompaniment with her own voice is stellar and compliments the vibe. On all counts, it feels like she’s leading the band and boy oh boy are they quick on their toes putting forth unbelievable accompaniment. Sometimes bassist, Manolo Cabras, puts forth some initial landscape but Cassiers explores it at her own pace and pleasure and with extraordinary and pleasing confidence. Giovanni Di Domenico’s piano playing is heavily showcased on I Should Be Going but then the song takes a wild left turn into the avant garde and he comes out of it sounding something like Keith Jarrett. But he also plays in an impressionistic manner that channels Debussy. This is especially true when he’s quick on the draw to find the perfect accompaniment to Cassiers. And obviously the percussion is huge since Oriol Roca is the band leader. He and Cabras have a very intuitive relationship but he’s also impressionistic like Giovanni Di Domenico. It’s kind of odd to think of a percussionist like that but he drives the band with a dreaminess through his peculiar pace and rhythm. It’s also big. His percussion adds layers of texture in the same way electronics do in other music. Enjoy this great album.”

 

Manolo Cabras & Basic Borg

© Nadia Guida
© Jassepoes

MANOLO CABRAS & BASIC BORG

“A more beautiful tribute to the libertarian principles of jazz seems hard to imagine” Jan-Jakob Delanoye, Kwadratuur (Belgium)

 

Italian contrabassist Manolo Cabras started the band Basic Borg as a quartet, out of a recording session on September 2005 in The Hague, The Netherlands. It was the consequence of a natural connexion between four musicians that seemed to share a common way of responding to the music. On April 2009, the Italian saxophone player Riccardo Luppi joins the group, finding immediatelly a natural spot in the sound of the band.

 

Nevertheless the group’s acoustic sound (in addition of a small range of electronics), it is capable to produce a large diversity of colors. Inspired by bands such of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter and the modern european jazz music, the quartet has its own particular sound. Their repertoire exists out of original compositions, as well as free improvised music. It’s a band where each of the musicians’ personal contribution is crucial to its sound, exploring their own boarders everytime they play.

 

Basic Borg’s first album I Wouldn’t Be Sure was released on 2012 by Belgian label el Negocito Records.

 

 

MANOLO CABRAS: double bass
LYNN CASSIERS: voice, electronics
MATTEO CARRUS: piano and keyboards
RICCARDO LUPPI: tenor and soprano saxophones
ORIOL ROCA: drums

 

www.elnegocitorecords.com

 

 

“Manolo Cabras & Basic Borg se conjuguent pour nous offrir une musique nouvelle, sensible, intelligente pour une nouvelle ère.” Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Le Soir (Belgium)

 

“Beautiful is the back-and-forth game between the rhythm section, but also between the two voices, Lynn Cassiers and veteran Riccardo Luppi. A band to be listened live.” Jeroen Revalk, Cobra Magazine (Belgium)

 

“Ma al di là delle singole personalità è il suono della band che affascina l’ascoltatore e fa di I Wouldn’t Be Sure una bella testimonianza di come il linguaggio del jazz possa rinnovarsi con freschezza e creatività.” Vincenzo Roggero, All About Jazz (Italy)

 

“Personal and introspective – a trippy, cool, and sophisticated album – much to the help of the voice of Lynn Cassiers, what sets this album apart is its playful seductivity. Definitely worth your time!” Christopher Moklebust (USA)

 

“Chacun devient soliste à son tour sur la riche trame rythmique d’Oriol Rocca, batteur doublé d’un percussionniste à la recherche de colorations nouvelles. Voilà assurément une musique innovante, fruit d’une démarche très personnelle, qu’on se réjouit de découvrir en concert.” Claude Loxhay, Jazzaround (Belgium)

ALBUMS

MANOLO CABRAS & BASIC BORG – I WOULDN'T BE SURE

I Wouldn’t Be Sure

Artist : Manolo Cabras & Basic Borg

Release Date : December 11, 2012

Label : El Negocito Records

Format : CD

Go to MANOLO CABRAS & BASIC BORG

Buy album:

Basic Borg started as quartet, out of a recording in September 2005. It was the consequence of a natural connexion between four musicians that seemed to share a common way of responding to the music. Only in April 2009, the saxophonist Riccardo Luppi joins the group; finding immediately a natural spot in the sound of the band. Nevertheless the group’s acoustic sound (in addition of a small range of electronics), it is capable to produce a large diversity of colors. Inspired by bands such of Miles DavisOrnette Coleman, Wayne Shorter… and the modern european jazz music, the quartet has its own particular sound. Their repertoire exists out of original compositions , as well as free improvised music. It’s a band where each of the musicians’ personal contribution is crucial to its sound. Exploring their own boarders every time they play. Musical leader Manolo Cabras, envisioned an electro-acoustic band that play structures while keeping the fresh approach you can find in improvisation.

 

  • Lynn Cassiers: voice, fx
  • Manolo Cabras: double bass
  • Matteo Carrus: piano, keyboards
  • Riccardo Luppi: tenor and soprano saxophones
  • Oriol Roca: drums

 

www.elnegocitorecords.com

Press

 

The group bassist Manolo Cabras brought together for a shot at El Negocito label, combines such spirits who remain radically rebelling against obviousness in the musical life they lead. Lynn Cassiers is not just the sympathetic and fragile singer which one could respect her, she is much more. Cassiers enchants, hypnotizes and oppresses her meticulous vocals from a psychological ingenuity witnesses where several colleagues a tip can suck. Riccardo Luppi rips repertoire like from the inside open and Oriol Roca on drums refuses to be a flowing stream which his companions could float carefree. The piano and keyboards Matteo Carrus expired as the percussion in fits and starts, from top to valley, from confirmation to denial, the tension constantly entertaining and groundbreaking for an untapped area.
The album’s title is anyway not stolen. “I Wouldn’t Be Sure” is what the musicians constantly communicate to each other: simply land on his or her feet is indeed a fact that none of the quintet members are interested. Each song is a re-scan of the darkness: starting with a tabula rasa, and slowly but surely be signed by the comments which the instrumentalists provide their companions. Especially in the longer tracks, where the time is taken to solo material as it were to be fertilized by the collective, the quest is captivating to follow. Precisely because there is no key exists to the fairytale of Manolo Cabras and Basic Borg, is a forest where is fine to get lost: for as the conceptual framework is composed of “right” versus “wrong” way – why would not every turn permuted ?
What if ‘I would not be sure’ is about the poetry of freedom? When rigid harmonic thinking and the structural development of compositions equally are putted aside, it becomes possible to return from the intuition voice, electronics and acoustic instruments to move towards each other. Silence and cries that remain unanswered are the white lines of the poem that this album is, places where it is up to the listener to complete the picture or to get a moment to breathe. Of course the lookout for the elusive one job to beaches where he also started: this album also reached no illuminating lock. These five unleashed brains understand, however, that the way are the soul of the experience. A more beautiful tribute to the libertarian principles of jazz seems hard to imagine. Jan-Jakob Delanoye, Kwadratuur (May 2013)

 

Cet album nous emmène dans des sphères différentes. La voix de Lynn Cassiers, les effets électroniques que la jeune chanteuse gère, la contrebasse et les compos de Manolo Cabras, le sax free de Riccardo Luppi, la batterie d’Oriol Roca et le piano de Matteo Carrus se conjuguent pour nous offrir une musique nouvelle, sensible, intelligente pour une nouvelle ère. Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Le Soir (January 2013)

 

Intriguing title for an intriguing piece of Italian bassist settled in Belgium who is best known as a sideman for Erik Vermeulen, Ben Sluijs and Manu Hermia. The group’s name refers to the enemies of the Star Trek crew. Sounds from the cosmos are also here and slid between the folds courtesy of vocalist and “electronic diva” Lynn Cassiers. The quintet plays music and is hovering above on quite openly in the gray area between free improvisation and with the important rule: Treat your fellow musicians getting their own way. Somewhere between Bobo Stenson, Ornette Coleman and Miles Davis Live At The Plugged Nickel but transposed to the 21st century. Pieces of pure spiel canals threading the ideas flow together. The remarkably warm sound you get is a bonus. The very strong narrative structure with perfect center piece calling for a vinyl release. Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazzmozaiek (April 2012)

 

Basic Borg résulte d’un étonnant carrefour de rencontres. D’abord, celle de la vocaliste Lynn Casiers qui s’exprime dans un jazz expérimental aux frontières du rock alternatif, de l’improvisation comme de la musique électronique et dont le talent innovant s’est notamment illustré au sein des groupes Lidlboj du claviériste Jozef Dumoulin (album Trees Are Always Right en 2009) et Octurn du saxophoniste Bo van der Werf (7 Eyes en 2009) mais aussi au sein de son propre quartet avec le pianiste Augusto Pirodda et, déjà, Manolo à la contrebasse. Ensuite, la rencontre avec l’expérimenté saxophoniste italien Ricardo Luppi qui a collaboré plusieurs fois avec Nexus, l’une des meilleures formations italiennes (notamment pour We Did It, en hommage à Roland Kirk) mais qui a aussi enregistré à son nom, avec ses amis Daniele Cavallanti (saxophone ténor) et Tiziano Tononi (batterie), un très original Homage to Duke Ellington (un album chroniqué en 2003 dans le magazine Jazzaround). En 2006, ce saxophoniste avait fondé le groupe Mure Mure en compagnie de Manolo et, par la suite, de Lynn Cassiers. Au piano, on retrouve Matteo Carrus, jeune instrumentiste italien qui a notamment joué avec le trompettiste Mario Massa avant de rejoindre Basic Borg en 2009 pour des concerts au Sounds et au Negocito de Gand. Enfin, à la batterie, on retrouve l’Espagnol Oriol Roca que l’on avait découvert, en compagnie de Manolo, au sein du trio de Giovanni Di Domenico et qui a vite rejoint Basic Borg. Au répertoire du quintet, six compositions originales de Manolo, deux de Lynn Cassiers, une de Matteo Carrus et deux compositions-improvisations collectives (le très court duo entre percussions et effets électronique de Scalar’e Bottulusu et It Should Be There sur lequel saxophone ténor et piano dialoguent avec une voix comme en écho dans une atmosphère très mystérieuse). La musique proposée par Manolo et Lynn marie, avec une réelle originalité, tradition (des lyrics chantés d’une voix limpide comme sur I Wouldn’t Be Sure) et modernité (vocalises modulées par des effets électroniques comme sur Game Over ou Ti Ricordi) et mélange, avec audace, musique mélodique très intimiste (G Whatever ou ce Plaça de Cristo Rey avec un beau dialogue entre piano et contrebasse) et fulgurances free (avec un ténor rageur et effets électroniques comme sur Pronti, Partenza, Via). Chacun devient soliste à son tour (très belle intro de contrebasse sur Dolce ou de piano sur A Ciascuno il Suo) sur la riche trame rythmique d’Oriol Rocca, batteur doublé d’un percussionniste à la recherche de colorations nouvelles. Voilà assurément une musique innovante, fruit d’une démarche très personnelle, qu’on se réjouit de découvrir en concert.Claude Loxhay, Jazzaround (December 2012)

 

Bassist Manolo Cabras comes from Sardinia but has now found a permanent home in the Belgian jazz scene. His band Basic Borg appeared late last year the album “I Wouldn’t Be Sure”, featuring Riccardo Luppi alongside saxophonist, pianist and drummer Matteo Carrus Oriol Roca, also Lynn Cassiers as a singer and supplier of all kinds of electronics. Manolo Cabras is a great bassist, a beauty of an improviser. On ‘I wouldn’t be sure’ he delivers most compositions that serve as starting point for improvisation and freer sound experiments. Despite the electronics Lynn Cassiers, the music of Basic Borg remains yet very close to the jazz tradition. Beautiful is the back-and-forth game between the rhythm section, but also between the two voices (Lynn Cassiers and veteran Riccardo Luppi). A band to be listened live. Jeroen Revalk, Cobra Magazine (March 2013)

 

Ma al di là delle singole personalità è il suono della band che affascina l’ascoltatore e fa di I Wouldn’t Be Sure una bella testimonianza di come il linguaggio del jazz possa rinnovarsi con freschezza e creatività. Vincenzo Roggero, All About Jazz (April 2013)

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