This new album is the result of the intention of his mentor, César Cardoso, to seek new approaches, paths and ideas of composition and arrangement, through an extended formation. This ensemble has 8 elements, distributed by winds – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, trumpet and trombone – and rhythmic section – vibraphone, piano, double bass and drums.
Having already other projects with a quartet and a quintet and having written many arrangements for Big Band, the idea of this collective arose because it is different from what he has done and above all to challenge himself to present a record with its own identity and to approach the songs with innovation and freshness.
For this album César Cardoso choose 8 songs, 6 of which are Jazz Standards made famous by some of the greatest tenor saxophonists – Hank Mobley, Benny Golson, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson -, and composed 2 original songs to complete the album. These arrangements contain new approaches and techniques, recently studied, with the intention of creating songs as if they were new ones but at the same time without losing the essence of the originals. In addition, one of the premises was to raise the musical level through harmonic, rhythmic and metric complexity, without losing the musical side, making everything as organic as possible.
In César Cardoso’s career there are 3 albums, all with original music – “Half Step” (2010), “Bottom Shelf” (2015) and “Interchange” (2018) -, more than 100 arrangements for Orchestras and Big Bands – written mainly for the Jazz Orchestra of Leiria and for the Jazz Orchestra of Hot Clube de Portugal – plus 2 books, written in Portuguese, about Jazz Theory.
César Cardoso Ensemble: