Total Spaces

This marvelous disc contains what unquestionably is the finest available performance of Cantus Arcticus, Rautavaara's most popular piece. (…) Excellent sonics, warm and well-balanced (in the concerto).

"Spaces", the ninth studio album by Brazilian band Violeta de Outono, fulfills a trilogy started with 2007’s ‘Volume 7’, and consolidates the current phase of the band, a quartet, instead of the post-punk tinged psychedelic trio of the 1980’s. The album features all the elements of the group’s characteristic soundscapes, with hypnotic patterns, refined instrumentals, ethereal vocals and founding member’s Fabio Golfetti trademark atmospheric guitar playing.

Bassist Cecil McBee and Chico Freeman (who triples on tenor, soprano and flute) teamed up many times during the late 1970s and '80s. Their collaborations found them playing music that was a spiritual extension on hard bop, adventurous while moving forward. On this LP, they perform five of McBee's originals in a sextet that also includes trumpeter Joe Gardner, the percussive pianist Don Pullen (a major asset to the date), drummer Allen Nelson and percussionist Don Moye. The often melodic but unpredictable music definitely holds one's interest.