Jean-Marie Machado
Dave Liebman
Media Luz

Jean-Marie Machado piano
Dave Liebman saxophone
Claus Stötter flugelhorn, trumpet
Quatuor Psophos
Eric Lacrouts violin
Bleuenn le Maitre violin
Cecile Grassi viola
Guillaume Martigne cello
Recorded live December 7, 2012 at NDR, Hamburg by Michael Plötz and Gérard de Haro
Sound Design by Andreas Paff
Production in Hamburg: Norddeutscher Rundfunk 2012
Executive Producers for NDR: Axel Dürr and Stefan Gerdes
Licensed by Studio Hamburg Distribution & Marketing GmbH
Recorded live January 25, 2014 at Centre des bords de Marne, Le Perreux by Gérard de Haro
Licensed by Cantabile
Mixed in June 2014 by Gérard de Haro at Studios La Buissonne
Mastered by Nicolas Baillard
Release date: November 18, 2014

Pianist Jean-Marie Machado and saxophonist Dave Liebman have been collaborating since 2003. For their third album, recorded live by Gérard de Haro for La Buissone on December 7, 2012, the duo welcomes trumpeter Claus Stötter and the Psophos Quartet for a program of uniquely melodic dreams.

Most of the set list was composed by Machado, and among his writing the title track is an atmospheric gem of sumptuous and cinematographic tendencies. The blending of string quartet with Liebman’s soprano and Stötter’s flugelhorn is magical, while piano comments selectively, engagingly. Machado’s “A noite (fado suite)” and “Snake sonata” are in three parts. Where the former is well-pruned, the latter walks a more overgrown path through emotional territories. A solo piano passage at its center, sweeping and spiraling inward, makes it a highlight. Liebman and Stötter crosstalk amiably in both, while the Psophos Quartet doesn’t just decorate but fleshes out real implications from within. Those same strings widen the camera of “La tarde silenciosa” and in the four-part “Same place different times” lift Liebman’s soprano like a brush on high.

The saxophonist’s own writing is as flexible as his playing. The mosaic of “Breath” is moody, that of “Snow day” more dance-like. “An old friend” closes the gap with a transparent stopper. Liebman’s is a voice to be heard with every fiber, and rewards what isn’t always easy listening with assurance of life.