Carlos Barretto - Labirintos (Clean Feed, 2010) ***½

The 11th review of the more than 1,000 CD reviews that I have written so far, was Carlos Barretto's Lokomotiv Trio's second album on Clean Feed, also with Mario Delgado on guitar and Jose Salgueiro on drums. So many years later, the trio is still together, and manage to play captivating and creative modern jazz without the need of a French reed player to enrich the sound (François Corneloup or Louis Sclavis).

The music brought here is very rhythmic, sometimes rock-influenced, sometimes boppish, carefully measured yet often coloring a little outside the lines, though not too much. Even if all three musicians are excellent, it is Delgado's guitar that offers the lead voice, with the occasional opportunity for the bass and drums to solo. In that sense the trio also fits well within the bop tradition.

As a special treat, here are two Youtube clips, one with an interview of the band earlier this year on Portuguese television, and one with a very romantic photographic composition of "Salada 2", the opening track of their new album. This will tell you more than all my scriblings. Both clips give a good view on the various faces of "Lokomotiv"
http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/2010/05/carlos-barretto-labirintos-clean-feed.html