Leo Genovese, Demian Cabaud, & Marcos Cavaleiro: Estrellero 2
Sunnyside Records

The music pianist Leo Genovese, contrabassist Demian Cabaud, and drummer Marcos Cavaleiro make is trio music in the truest sense. All three contribute compositions to their nine-track follow-up to 2023's Estrellero, and, while Genovese naturally shoulders the melodic load, the focus isn't on the pianist only but instead split equally between the three. Geography might separate them—Genovese is based in Brooklyn and Cabaud and Cavaleiro call Porto, Portugal home—but when they get together an unforced magic happens, the new recording resounding proof. Hailing from Argentina, the bassist and pianist attended the Berklee College of Music together, and the rapport the three exemplify in their playing has been years in the making. Recorded on June 6, 2023 at the Estudio Cara OJM in Porto, Estrellero 2 is a compelling document of where the three are now.

Genovese's effervescently swinging “Bud's Rhythm” nods to jazz legend Bud Powell, but stylistically and rhythmically the set ventures far afield of traditional jazz and bebop. Different pieces suggest connections to South America, Africa, and Spain as the trio welcomes other musical flavours into the mix. The ear's instantly tickled by the lurching, quasi-funk groove the bassist and drummer serve up on Genovese's “La Quinta,” a modal composition the pianist elevates with dense sprinkles, chordal splashes, and regal voicings. After the sparkle of that arresting opener, Cabaud's “America Despierta” broils with fervent determination as the pianist dances across the keyboard and his partners drive the performance with low-slung fury. The high-octane coupling of the bassist's pulsations, Cavaleiro's fire, and Genovese's rippling cascades makes for gripping music.

Introducing Genovese's “Fly Brother” with an unaccompanied intro by Cabaud is a fitting way to pay tribute to bassist Juini Booth, who passed away during the pandemic. Further to that, it's probably no accident that the theme delivered by bass and piano thereafter recalls Jimmy Garrison's iconic one from “A Love Supreme.” As shown by the turbulence permeating Cabaud's “Paz Na Siria,” world events are also clearly on the trio's radar. Not everything's so tumultuous, however. Cavaleiro's “Domingo” presents a calming ballad meditation to alleviate the agitation of “Paz Na Siria,” with the pianist even seemingly referencing “The Man I Love” in his free-floating expressions. Though “Suspendido” borrows rhythms from North Africa, Genovese's breezy tune soars with the ecstatic abandon of jazz.

With compositional structures grounding the tracks, Estrellero 2 doesn't formally qualify as free jazz, but freedom definitely characterizes the trio's attack. It's a mobile unit, too, as evidenced by the ease with which the three shift between styles within a performance, “Fly Brother” and “Bud's Rhythm” good illustrations. On the album's inner sleeve, Genovese writes that the trio's “still searching for answers and chasing madness and playing for a peaceful world.” In those few words, he fairly accurately articulates what the three get up to on the release.

December 2024