Carlos Bica & AZUL feat. Frank Möbus + Jim Black -

"Things About" Press Clippings

A permanent restlessness

With their fifth album, Carlos Bica & Azul reached the peak of maturity, located somewhere between jazz, pop and a total devotion to song. Carlos Bica, the bass

player and composer, has managed to preserve an enviable creative vitality throughout his entire career. Moved on by inquisitive restlessness, he continues to search for the perfect balance between form and abstraction, between the magic of improvisation and sublime lines of song. With the universal appeal of his music and a rare mastery in song writing, Bica reasserts himself as one of the greatest names in European jazz.

O Publico - Rodrigo Amado

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best Jazz Album 2011 – Lisbon Time Out

Carlos Bica composes with great melodic inspiration, Frank Möbus artistry enables the melody to stand out, and Jim Black’s genius reveals itself in delicate timbres; together they have produced the most serene and lyrical recording of the Trio Azul to date.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Carlos Bica is a musician who has long refused to do what others may already have done, the Trio Azul remains, despite the success of his solo work and with the Matéria-Prima group, the setting in which he is at his most expressive and original. As a bass player, Bica continues to impress with the precision and emotional depth of every note, pitch perfect every time he draws the bow, the consistent refusal to play the obvious, and the complete surrender to each moment of the music he plays, are just a few of the superior and absolutely

distinctive traits of a musician who continues to represent Portuguese jazz in the most honourable manner.

Paulo Barbosa - jazzxxiproject

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Top 10 Jazz CDs of 2011 It is an achievement in itself that Carlos Bica and his Trio Azul - with Frank Möbus and Jim Black – have never produced a less than extraordinary recording. Once again, Things About does not disappoint and shows Bica as an enviable melodic composer.

lojadupondedupont.blogspot

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best Jazz CD of the year 2011

Jornal "O Expresso"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Things About is excellent proof that three virtuosic musicians can put their egos aside to play what is required and befits these poetic musical gems.

musicaquecuelgan.blogspot

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to origins New release Things About returns to the classic form of the trio: the pure and melodic sound of Bica's Double Bass reencounters Möbus’ effectively sober guitar and Black's inexhaustible percussive creativity. The sound quality is of the detailed perfection the trio has long been known for. Flawless, individually and collectively, the ideas keep coming in the moments of solo exploration; Bica, Möbus and Black keep reinventing themselves and cleverly manage to escape the clichés ... This album is without doubt a valuable addition to the already rich Azul discography.

Bodyspace

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bica has already established himself as one of the most inspired composers in modern jazz, but here he has treated himself to producing a string of pearls... The CD closes with "Dream of an Autumn Morning" but one wants to press repeat and listen to nothing else the whole winter through.

Time Out Lisbon Review by Jose Carlos Fernandes