the press – Carlos Bica & Azul
- "Look What they've Done To My Song"

Leonel Santos regarding "Look What They've Done To My Song" by Carlos Bica & Azul
[versão portuguesa]

The music of Carlos Bica is exciting, modern, and contagious. Bica is an attentive listener of the outside world - from which his modernity derives- and an innate songwriter. He interprets the world and plays it in melodies that we can hum or sing. In his compositions we find fragments of things that only our subconscious recognizes, but expressed in such a form that they come to light in an absolutely natural and obvious way.

Carlos Bica & Azul - "Look What They've Done To My Song"

Nothing has to do with any form of pastiche or is a result of copy/ paste process; instead it is an evident form of story telling made of daily experiences that in a strange way we recognize. Carlos Bica has the rare ability to write melodies (songs, even if they don't have lyrics) that easily stay with us. He gets inspiration from many sources, from world music to folk and early music, from Jazz to western erudite music, but pop music is increasingly becoming his prime source of inspiration. Actually, there is plenty of pop in Bica's music, as inspiration, but also in the construction, the simplicity of themes, and in the structure itself. Such simplicity, however, is barely noticeable, since there is neither a compromise, at any level, nor an easier approach, but only an option for forms and melodies that we can sing (and dance).

The choice of the old hippie hymn of Melanie "What they done to my song", as the title of the third album by the trio "Azul", didn't happen by chance. It can be seen as an extension of the previous work "Twist", but it aims further with a message of happiness that wishes to communicate. The trio "Azul" reveals itself as the natural and perfect performer of this inspired music. Made of three truly virtuosi, they rarely boast their virtuosity gratuitously. The three of them are regularly invited to collaborate in innumerable projects in many different areas. Nevertheless, they have interesting individual projects projected by their strong personalities. Jim Black - this magician of the drums- is currently in a tour presenting the electrifying "Alas no Axis". The most original Frank Möbus promotes the radical "Risky Business" of "Der Rote Bereich". Carlos Bica runs from productions for theater and movies, to collaborations with vanguard musicians or that marvelous and unclassifiable piece by the name of "Diz".

"Azul" is the most perfect meeting of these three universes. Modernity, creativity, simplicity are adjectives that we can use to characterize this CD. "What Have They Done To My Song" is truly one of the most exciting records I have had the chance to listen to in a long time.

Leonel Santos "All Jazz"