Record of the Day: Goldstein & Lubambo, “Infinite Love”

Gil Goldstein & Romero Lubambo
“Infinite Love” (Cd Big World BW 2008)

This album is a true marvel but its availability is far from easy, given that it was released on a small label
American not distributed in our country. It’s really worth looking it up on the internet to discover a
hidden jewel due to the hands of a great pianist and arranger, Gil Goldstein.
One of the few direct students of Bill Evans, Goldstein learned from his teacher the taste for refined harmonic concatenations and for a transparent pianism that hides its conceptual complexity behind cantabile lines of great luminosity and immediacy.

Together with Goldstein we find an excellent Brazilian guitarist who moved to New York, Romero Lubambo, who supports with impeccable taste the delicate instrumental textures of the album, entrusted mainly to voice, guitar and keyboards, with the delicate support of the percussions of Armando Marçal (coming from Pat Metheny Group).
Jazz and Brazilian music go hand in hand without resorting to commercial rhythms or background atmospheres in a musical conversation mainly played on soft pastel tones, which proves successful thanks also to the presence of an extraordinary guest, Toninho Horta (among the greatest guitarists, Brazilian composers and singers) who sings and plays with the skill that has been recognized for decades.

With absolute relaxation the titles proposed on the album alternate pages written a long time ago such as “Correnteza” by Ilvamar Magalhaes and “My Foolish Heart” by Victor Young with songs by Goldstein himself such as the beautiful “The Pheonicians” (which sees him take up the accordion, another instrument of which Gil is a true virtuoso) and the sweet melody of “Valentine’s Day”; Lubambo signs the rarefied sambist postcard of “Jeca’s Bajao”, Horta contributes the sophisticated themes of “Luisa” and “Infinite Love” while the saudade makes its way when the musicians revisit “Amazon River” by Dori Caymmi and Segura Ele, a classic of the great Pixinguinha.

Romero Lubambo proves himself to be a first-class soloist in weaving together instrumental interventions that depart from the Baden style
Powell to progressively take on more jazzy nuances, Goldstein is as always a champion of taste and within about fifty minutes you reach the end of the album transported on a cloud of softness and serenity.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.