Although she’s just 25 years-old, the Avinyó, Spain-based trumpeter and bandleader Alba Careta has managed to be rather busy throughout her relatively young life and career: Careta has taken part in a number of different projects including Balkan Paradise Orchestra, Big Born Band, Cardona Jazz Quartet, Mamihlapinatapai, STOKA Ensemble, NSJO (Netherlands Student Jazz Orchestra), JM Jazz World Orchestra, MB Big Band, Ping-En Hung Quintet; she’s also collaborated with Santi Careta, Jofre Fité, Ferran Juamira Duo, Las Albits and she leads her own band Alba Careta Group with some of these collaborations occurring while she was earning her Masters in Jazz Trumpet at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Additionally, Careta has quickly established herself as one of the rising talents of the Catalan jazz scene.
Alades is Careta’s second album as a bandleader with a band that features Egor Doubay (tenor sax), Adrián Moncada (piano) Jort Terrwjin (double bass) and Joäo Guerra (drums) — and the album is the follow up to her critically applauded debut album Origins, which won the Enderrock Award for Best Jazz Album. Much like its predecessor, Alades’ material draws from the rising Spanish trumpeter’s experiences while studying and living in Holland. “The nostalgia of being far from home, the curiosity of knowing what life will bring and the desire to be next to the people I love are some of the feelings that you can find in my new album,” Careta says in press notes. Careta adds, “I simply gathered friends with whom I feel good playing; this is what later makes us all feel good on stage and out of it.”
“Oceans,: Alades’ latest single is centered around an expansive composition that alternates between a propulsive and breakneck swing led by Guerra’s rapid fire drumming and Moncada’s explosive blocks of twinkling chords and a brooding and atmospheric middle section. The entire composition is held together by Caretta’s and Doubay’s vibrant and expressive dueling solos, which may remind some listeners of bop era jazz. Throughout, the composition reveals a collective of musicians, who intuitively know when to lead, follow and push each other — or to just get out of the way when necessary. And while feeling remarkably oceanic, the song evokes a sense of awe, curiosity and joy.
Filmed and edited by LeCuala Films’ Aarón Barreiro, the recently released video for “Oceans” is centered around a surreal and dream-like logic in which household items — a drawer, a bed, a nightstand, two lamps are sink to the bottom of a pool, along with a trumpet. Towards, the middle, a blindfolded woman sinks to the bottom, towards the bed. We see her grab her trumpet and play underwater.