Letting Loose!
About Partido Out, Trio da Paz’s third album, music critic Bret Primack said the following:
This new documentation of their creativity, two years after their last release, finds them favoring an even more intense and hard-swinging approach to the Brazilian music lexicon tempered by just the right mix of subtlety and restraint as well.
The album is creative as it presents original tunes penned by the Trio. All arrangements are also done collaboratively or individually. The title also cleverly shows a play with the phrase “partido alto.” Partido alto is a form of samba defined by Brazilian music critic Tárik de Souza as the “art of samba improvisation.” In Partido Out, improvisation is present in the right dosage as in previous Trio da Paz albums.
The album is intense from beginning to end. Rique Pantoja’s “Melancia” is a fast-paced samba that demands more from these musicians than one believes is possible to happen. Listen to Lubambo playing his guitar. You will doubt there is only one guitarist on the track. Fonseca’s drum solo — and can he let loose in this track! — is breathtaking. As for Matta’s bass support, suffice to say he is the third element in this earth, wind and fire ensemble. In addition to samba, the Trio also dazzles when it covers other genres. Take, for example, the baião “P’ro Flávio,” a Lubambo song written for his father (who was born in Recife, the northeastern capital city of the state of Pernambuco). Here Fonseca adds a berimbau to complete Matta’s use of the bow. The resulting sound is typically northeastern and electrifying. The same is true of another Lubambo song, “Bachião.” As the name implies, the song is a mixture of Brazilian and Bach. Whereas the harmonies are clearly Bachian, the beat is all baião. Together, this unlike combination of musical worlds allows the Trio to improvise to their heart’s content — and our enjoyment! On the soft side of this album, we find beautiful harmonies and melodies in these songs about women: “Luísa” (that’s Lubambo’s daughter’s name, but the song was not written for her), “Rosa” (Matta wrote for his mother) and “Song for Kaya” (Lubambo wrote for his niece). Trio da Paz breathes softly in these soothing songs with the same intensity and “hard-swinging approach” as they do in up-tempo melodies.
Partido Out is an album that is both intimate and out there. These musicians continue to amaze listeners with their sound.
ALBUM INFORMATION
Trio da Paz
Partido Out
Malandro MAL 71005 (1998)
Time: 58’30”
Tracks:
- Melancia (Rique Pantoja)
- P’ro Flávio (Romero Lubambo)
- Luísa (Toninho Horta)
- Paraty (Nilson Matta)
- Rosa (Nilson Matta)
- Bachião (Romero Lubambo)
- Song for Kaya (Romero Lubambo)
- Espanha (Nilson Matta)
- Trio da Paz (Romero Lubambo)
- Partido Out (Duduka da Fonseca – Chico Adnet)
