MEECO's debut album "AMARGO MEL" (Portuguese for “Bitter Honey”) is a many-faceted masterwork supportet by the Who's Who” of the global jazz scene. One could think that composer and producer MEECO took his line from a quote made by world star Charlie Parker: “Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your instrument. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, in fact, there's no boundary line to art.” This boundary-crossing musicality and sensitivity which MEECO put to effect in the studio are what make AMARGO MEL indeed an outstanding production.
MEECO's production was musically supported by international jazz stars. The list of musicians he convinced to feature on his debut album reads like a “Who's Who” of the global jazz scene and combines the living great names of the 1960s jazz era: bassist Ron Carter (Miles Davis), flautist Hubert Laws (Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea), legendary trumpeter Eddie Henderson (Herbie Hancock) and vibraphonist David Friedman (Leonard Bernstein, Bobby McFerrin, Yoko Ono) were immediately thrilled with MEECO's compositions, as were the outstanding saxophonist Charlie Mariano (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner) and Ray Charles’ saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman. All of them agreed immediatley to work with composer and producer MEECO, which for him was a great honour.
The opener “Nocturna” with emotional vocals by Eva Ventura and a sparkling piano performance by Reggie Moore shows us which way the journey is heading: to the Latin-tinted realm of beautiful feelings and taste. MEECO’s compositions blend a relaxed mood on the one hand with fire and passion on the other into a supreme symbiosis. With the exceptional vocalists Eva Ventura (from Spain), Olvido Ruiz Castellanos (Cuba), Eloisia (Brazil) and Rolando Faria (Brazil) he opens up a new world of sound.
MEECO insisted that all the songs should be recorded “live”, so as to capture the excitement and the magic moments that happen when musicians and singers of this calibre get together in a studio. The recordings he made with some of the best of the international jazz scene inspired and motivated him; and they were a challenge too. MEECO, who was born in Berlin and studied both classical and jazz piano, is a talented pianist.
However, he was deliberately modest with his musical skills during the recording: he just concentrated on being the producer, which this meant he could make the very best possible out of his compositions. MEECO’s plan of combining different elements has succeeded admirably: the album has made him one who “crosses the boundaries at the interfaces of musical form and styles”.
MEECO describes his idea: “The charm of my music is that many different influences are combined in it. I set myself no stylistic limits or definitions when I am composing. All I care about is the expressivity and feeling of a number. The attraction of composing is to create a dense atmosphere and mood without complex arrangement, to find an expressive language with acoustic instruments: to remind MTV and VIVA viewers of the simplicity of music and make the human feelings behind it visible.” One look into his eyes is enough to recognise what he transforms with such skill into notes and harmonies on his album: longing, yearning and melancholy.
MEECO now lives in Paris and it is astonishing that this good-looking young man is only famous in the musical world and not as a male model; but it is a good thing too, because had he been, maybe the music project AMARGO MEL would never have been realised.
FACTS:
Title: “AMARGO MEL”
Artist: MEECO
Repertoire: Latin Lounge Jazz
Label: Connector
From: Jazz Promo Services
Press Contact: Jim Eigo, jazzpromo@earthlink.net
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
Song: "Eloisa",
featuring Olvido Ruiz Castellanos on vocals, Reggie Moore on piano, Walter Gauchel on tenor sax, Christian Grabandt on trumpet, Guilherme Castro on bass and Felix Astor on drums;
composed by Meeco & Olvido Ruiz Castellanos;
Record release concert @ A-Trane, Berlin / Germany, May 02, 2009
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