Roger Davidson

Reviews

Amplified #168
 
Reviews by Kev Rowland
NEW ZEALAND
ROGER DAVIDSON TRIO ORAÇÃO PARA AMANHÃ SOUNDBRUSH
Frenchman Roger Davidson (piano) and his trio of Eduardo Belos (bass) and Adriano Santos (drums), have been joined on this release by Hendrik Meurkens who provides two quite different musical embellishments by providing harmonica and vibraphone. Recorded live at the Zinc Bar in NYC last year, this collection of twelve new songs shows Roger combining his love of both jazz and Brazilian music, in a way that is both fresh and interesting. When someone has
been so involved in these cultures for as many years as Roger, it perhaps isn’t surprising that the joining together of the two is seamless and faultless. He has a deft touch on the piano, and given that he has studied both orchestral and choral conducting it is also of no great shock that the arrangements are perfect for the occasion.
This is music that is living and breathing, each musician providing the others with the room they need to provide support to the main theme or to solo and improvise, whatever is right for the moment. It is laid back and reflective, music to get lost inside of, but even though the tempo may be often languid and the notes and chords meandering gently through the sun-kissed meadow, it is always something to be immersed in and never something that is boring. Beautiful and delicate, a joy from start to finish with South American inflections and tones that set this style of jazz apart. 
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Roger Davidson Hendrik Meurkens all original trio Roger Davidson Trio with Hendrik Meurkens – Oracao para Amanha/Prayer For Tomorrow
By
Dick Metcalf, editor, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
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August 10, 2017

http://contemporaryfusionreviews.com/roger-davidson-hendrik-meurkens-original-trio-roger-davidson-trio-hendrik-meurkens-oracao-para-amanhaprayer-tomorrow/

I’ve reviewed a lot of work from both these gents over the many years I’ve been reviewing… Roger’s piano is complimented very nicely by Hendrik’s excellent work on harmonica on this 2016 recording live at The Zinc Bar in New York City.  In fact, as you listen to them on the rousing opener, “September Samba“, you’ll be getting up to do (far) more than tap your toes… you’ll be dancing all night to this one.  Having reviewed so many CD’s from these two fellows, I can honestly say that this is the most VIBRANT performance recording I’ve heard from them yet… perhaps because it’s a live recording, or simply because the tunes are all originals from Roger… not sure which, but this album really COOKS, folks!
The title track, “Oracao para Amanha“, will definitely put you in the mood to offer up a prayer for our well-being in these oh-so-troubled times… and, it conveys a true message of hope that I’m sure what Roger & his players intended… a truly beautiful tune.
This is a new lineup of players, too…. Roger’s piano is joined by bass from Eduardo Belo and Adriano Santos on drums; and, of course, Hendrik on harmonica and vibraphone… it won’t take you but a couple of bars to fall in love with my personal favorite track of the dozen offered up… their performance on the vibrant “O Trem da Vida” (The Train of Life) isn’t complicated, but it is STELLAR… full of the spirit of life; you’ll find yourself hitting the REPLAY button often on this great song.  I give Roger and his players/guests a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 4.98 for this fine album.  Get more information about this great artist at his Soundbrush Records page.           Rotcod Zzaj

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Raul Da Gama - LatinJazzNet.com

Three things occupy the mind of Roger Davidson: spirituality, the romance of music, and Brasil. This might not necessarily be in that order but certainly Oração para Amanhã, One God, One World, and Universal Sacred Music for Chorus and Missa Universalis suggest that the veracity of that fact is beyond reproach. It bears mention that on the latter three albums Davidson focusses almost exclusively on the sacred elements of music. Remarkably, however, on Oração para Amanhã all the sources of his inspiration come together in a wonderful fashion.
Roger Davidson has written all of the music for Oração para Amanhã. He usually writes most if not all his music. Davidson is a fine composer, whose work is deceptively simple: melodies with almost linear, lyrical lines flowing one into the other, like ripples chasing each other in a pond after the stone has caused a stir. Arrangements are also simple, seemingly suggested more than written note after note, after note. Rhythms are not wildly challenging, perhaps the only drawback of his compositions. But Davidson is too clever to let the pulse of his music get dreary. To stay on top of things he employs the finest virtuoso musicians – on Oração para Amanhã
I think that the absence of a Brasilian percussion to augment Santos’ battery of drums is further proof of the elasticity of Davidson’s rhythms. Santos more than takes care of business in that department. Eduardo Belo is a fine bassist who brings the deepest tonal colours to life with the visual and especially tactile quality of a velvet surface through intertwined threads, strands, or the like, that make up a marvellous canvas. And Hendrik Meurkens drives the melodies, transforming them into something quite magical, whether he is working them on his vibraphone or his chromatic harmonica. However, make no mistake: this is Roger Davidson’s album from start to finish and what a fine album it is indeed.

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Ernest Barteldes

Music Whatever

Pianist Roger Davidson and German-born harmonica player/vibist Hendrik Meurkens both have a close relationship with the music of Brazil, and it’s a thrill to hear them coming together for “Oração Para Amanhã (Soundbrush), a live recording made at New York’s Zinc Bar featuring all-original music by Davidson. Backed by Eduardo Belo (bass) and Adriano Santos (drums), the disc kicks off with “September Samba,” an uptempo tune featuring Muerkens on vibes. Muerkens then goes to his harmonica to lead on “Sonho da Tarde,” a complex tune with a low-key feel . “Oração Para Amanhã” is definitely a love letter to Brazil, and both musicians treat the music with the respect it deserves, using American jazz tendencies to enhance the sound, but never to take it away from where it belongs.

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Norman Vickers
http://jazzpensacola.com/vickers/

Roger Davidson is a pianist/composer who records on his own label—Soundbrush Records. After listening to these dozen Latin tunes, I went to his website and learned that he performs various types of music. This CD with his regular trio, bassist Eduardo Belo and drummer Adriano Santos has vibraphonist and chromatic harmonicist Hendrik Meurkens. These are all original compositions by Davidson.

On further reading, I learn that Davidson’s wife is Brazilian and that Davidson has some twenty-plus recordings on his own label.

The tunes are melodic and rhythmic and typically Latin. Meurkens plays equally well on vibes or chromatic harmonica. This CD was recorded live at Zinc Bar, New York City, in May and October 2016.

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CHRIS SPECTOR, MidwestRecord.com

http://www.midwestrecord.com/MWR1235.html

ROGER DAVIDSON TRIO with Hendrik Meurkens/Oracao Para Amanha: Recorded live in his fave home away from home, trusty piano man Davidson shows his on going love for Brazil with a set of recent compositions and the addition of harmonica whiz Hearkens who also brought along his vibes for a banging good time. Recorded live and making feel like you are there, this cheery set delivers more smiles per mile than anything else you could play in the car. Well done.
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http://jazzquad.ru/index.pl?act=PRODUCT&id=4699

By Leonid Auskern

Google Translate
Not for the first time listening to the music of Roger Davidson, I already had the opportunity to see the hot love of this jazz pianist and composer from New York to Latin music and, in particular, to the music of Brazil. The new album of his trio is composed entirely of author's compositions written in the spirit of Brazilian jazz, with names in Portuguese, and only the title of the album is duplicated on the cover in two languages, English and Portuguese: "Prayer for Tomorrow." Pacifist name speaks for itself and does not need additional comments. But the composition of the ensemble, which in May and October 2016 on the site of the popular in New York club Zinc Bar live album was recorded, requires some explanation.

Drummer Adriano Santos I heard on the album Live at Caffe Vivaldi - Volume 2 released in 2015. This time he composed the rhythm group of the piano trio together with bassist Eduard Belu. They are both Brazilians, representatives of a large musical diaspora from their country in modern Babylon, as New York is rightly called sometimes. Here, Roger Davidson picked up another partner, whose name was not accidentally placed on the cover of the album along with the trio's title: it's a very good vibrator and just an outstanding jazz performer on the harmonica Hendrik Merkens. Most importantly, the German musician is also in love with the music of Brazil, like Davidson himself, delicately feels it and performs beautifully, in which the listeners of Oração Para Amanhã can see almost every track.

Masterfully possessing secrets, both samba and bossa nova, two whales of Brazilian jazz, Roger Davidson presented a dozen compositions, different in mood, sad and cheerful, but equally conveying the characteristics of Brazilian music. A sensual elegiac sadness permeates every note of Sonho Da Tarde, Saudades, Amor Brasileiro, carnivalistic frenzy permeates the melodies of Rio De Janeiro, A Escada or Tarde Sonhadora. Merckens on both his instruments broadcasts these feelings to the listener at the highest level, but I would not call him a pronounced frontman of the quartet. Here the contribution of each and that sound, which the musicians create collectively, is important. At the same time, I will note Santos's solo in Rio De Janeiro, and the excellent dialogue between Davidson and Merckens in the title play, and the roll call of the harmonica and double bass in A Escada. In a word, the hour of immersion in Brazilian exotics is provided to listeners!

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All About Jazz - review by Roger Farbey

Roger Davidson was born in Paris in 1952 to a French mother and American father. The family moved to New York when he was one and he started playing the piano when he was four. He took a Master's degree in composition in composition in 1980 and another in choral music in 1985. Initially he was steeped in classical music but twenty five years ago, as the result of attending the Stanford University Jazz Workshop, he started playing jazz and his first trio album was Ten To Twelve recorded in 1992. Now with well over twenty albums to his name, this is the first with a new trio and featured soloist Hendrik Meurkens, the German born virtuoso of the vibraphone and harmonica.

Oração Para Amanhã was recorded live at the Zinc Bar, New York City on several nights in May and October 2016. The venue is a haven for Brazilian music of this type, a genre in which Davidson specialises. The allegro opener "September Samba" sees guest star Hendrik Meurkens on vibraphone with piano and vibes stating the memorable melody line. "Sonho Da Tarde" employs a similar construction to Antonio Carlos Jobim's "How Insensitive" thus rendering it almost familiar but exuding its own intrinsic charm. The appropriately lively "Rio De Janeiro" comes as a contrast to its more sedate predecessor "Oração Para Amanhã."

On the dulcet "Amor Brasileiro," Meurkens lyrical harmonica playing recalls that of the late Toots Thielemans. But more often than not the mood is upbeat and Samba-rich such as evidenced on "O Trem Da Vida" and there are piano-focussing numbers too such as "Três Estrelas" where Davidson is heard playing solo. Meurkens's masterly harmonica is also heard on "A Escada" and the closer, the vibrant "O Verão." Overall this is a satisfying set of Davidson-composed Latin tunes which is pushed up a notch by the presence of the redoubtable Meurkens.

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Ron Weinstock
- Jazz & Blues Report – Feb 2-18
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This recording is the first by Davidson’s new trio, with stellar Brazilian musicians based in New York; Eduardo Belo (bass) and Adriano Santos (drums) who are joined by another mainstay of the New York Brazilian jazz community, harmonica and vibraphone extraordinaire Hendrik Meurkens as featured soloist. Recorded at the Zinc Bar in New York City, the musicians had played several engagements there before recording this album of original Brazilian jazz compositions by Davidson, who had previously published a songbook.

The delightful “September Samba” opens this with the interplay between the trio and Meurkens along with terrific piano and vibes solos while Santos’ keeps the breezy tempos alive. On “Sonho Da Tarde” Meurkens switches to harmonica and is lending a reflective mood to this performance. “Oração para Amanhã,” the title track, opens with delicate interplay by piano and vibes on a lovely performance with scintillating vibes and a solo by Belo with Davidson setting forth the theme and then taking an elegant solo.

The tempo picks up for a hot “Rio De Janeiro,” with breezy harmonica, tight rhythm with Davidson taking a terrific, imaginative, solo along with a samba parade evoking drum solo. Not knowing if the programming of the CD follows the live performances, but the charm of the lovely “Saudades” in part arises from the contrast to“Rio.” Also, there is the lively “Tarde Sonhadora,” the wistful “Amor Brasiliero” with hauntingly beautiful harmonica, the lively “A Estrada,” with Meurkens’ playful harmonica and a sparkling solo from Davidson, and the appealing solo piano performance “Tres Estrelas.

” “Oração para Amanhã” is full of marvelous Brazilian jazz that has much charm and is superbly performed by Davidson, his featured guest Meurkens, and the wonderful rhythm duo of Belo and Santos