JazzTimes is honored to present the premiere of the video for “The Forlorn Mill” by bassist and composer André Carvalho, a track from his new album The Garden of Earthly Delights, due to be released May 17 by Outside In Music.
The album, Carvalho’s third as a leader, borrows its title from a famous painting by Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch and consists of an 11-movement suite composed by Carvalho and inspired by Bosch’s work. Besides Carvalho, the band features saxophonists Jeremy Powell and Eitam Gofman, trumpeter Oskar Stenmark, guitarist André Matos, and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren.
Of this particular track, which is The Garden of Earthly Delights‘ penultimate piece, Carvalho says: “‘The Forlorn Mill’ is, without a doubt, one of my favorite movements [of the suite] and one that gave me more pleasure writing. It was inspired by one of the most crazy scenes of the [Bosch painting’s] right panel, also called ‘Hell.’ In this scene, all sinners head towards a mill. I think that all this drama can be felt in this movement, highly influenced by rock, contemporary music, and improvised music, which give it this raw and rough character.
“It’s also one of the movements that gives me more pleasure playing, because it involves two apparently different things: playing in tempo and rubato. Drums and double bass keep a groove, whereas the horns and the guitar play very loose, floating and disconnected melodies, which will eventually give place to a collective solo and returning to the initial melody.”
Although he has been a New York City resident since 2014, Carvalho is originally from Lisbon, Portugal. His first two albums, Hajime and Memória de Amiba, blended contemporary jazz with elements from Portuguese music and received rave reviews from Portuguese and international critics. In 2012 Carvalho was awarded the Carlos Paredes Prize, a coveted award for Portuguese musicians, as well as a Best Group recognition in the Bucharest International Jazz Competition.
For more information on André Carvalho, visit his website.
