Egberto Gismonti at Enjoy Jazz, Germany - Review

Egberto Gismonti
Schlosstheater Schwetzingen, Schwetzingen, Germany
October 19 2018

The Enjoy Jazz festival is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, presenting gigs between three main cities in south-west Germany. It’s an extended season that usually begins in early October and stretches until mid-November. Each night features a show in either Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen or Mannheim, sometimes with simultaneous happenings in each location. There is even an occasional usage of the Schlosstheater in nearby Schwetzingen, an ornate 1753 joint, decorated with golden curlicues, chandeliers, private boxes, and an extensive garden expanse in the surrounding grounds. The locals call it the Rococo Theatre, although Wikipedia pedantically informs us that it also possesses neoclassical elements. Whatever the finer design points, this is an impressively old school setting for a gig.

During last year’s festival, veteran Brazilian guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti played in Ludwigshafen as a duo with Portuguese singer Maria João, whose presence took the music in a particular song-based direction. For his return visit, Gismonti played solo, beginning on guitar, then changing seats for the piano in the second part of a set that ultimately ran to around 90 minutes. The 70-year-old Gismonti doesn’t make many live appearances nowadays, so it was impressive that Enjoy Jazz secured his presence for a second year, allowing him to express himself more personally, in this solo setting.

Although amplified, Gismonti didn't sound much louder than semi-acoustic as he swapped between 10- and 12-string guitars, which sat high on his left knee, their broad necks angled upwards. He had explained that everything he was going to play had roots in Brazilian folkloric tradition, and despite tidying up the trad edges and elaborating the melodies, this was indeed a recognisable factor. He went on to mention the crucial importance of miscegenation in the formation of much Brazilian culture, particularly its music, which is made up of a rich brew of antecedents, and he reminded the audience that there are also many folks of German descent living in the south of the country.

Gismonti played skittering parts on his lower strings, then hopped up to the bass part of his aircraft carrier-sized guitar neck, stretching his palms to facilitate low runs - it was almost like watching a sitar player rather than a guitarist. Gismonti’s fingertips had a percussive attack, tapping out harmonics whilst picking scintillating solo flurries; sometimes he rapped the guitar body like it was a cajon.

After around 50 minutes, Gismonti moved to the piano, never to return to his guitars. Perhaps this was because alighting on each instrument involves such a different process, not only on a finger-muscle level, but on a mental plane as well. He began this second phase with Tom Jobim’s 'Insensatez', setting out on what was to be a river-flow of intermingling rhythms, phrases and decorations, in a style that was difficult to fix as jazz, classical, or folk. Ultimately, it was an individual Gismonti concoction of all of them. He managed to insert sharply percussive emphases and atonal outbreaks, but still rafting across the top of his chosen melodies, which were usually manifested as a kind of suspended cascade. The audience demanded two encores, ignoring Gismonti’s sleepyhead gestures, and his pointing, eyebrows raised, at his watch. Nevertheless, he still delivered some extra time, goaded on by the crowd’s extremely enthusiastic reception.

Enjoy Jazz runs until 16th November 2018.
For more information or to buy tickets, click here.