Marta Hugon, Lux, 17.10.07, 5*

Okay, I kind of had prepared myself for this gig. I even went all alone to Lux so that nothing would distract me from the experience of hearing Marta present her new yet unreleased album. Not that it was intentional, but in the end I reckon such an intention would be deemed fully justified, as it takes your full attention span (and not some idle chit-chat with your funky jazz friends) to be able to appreciate such a fulfilling event.

Oh my, and what a joy this has been! After getting straight to business with a sweet rendering of 'In Love in Vain' (even more uptempo than on the album), she started unravelling the new songs. Storyteller, we're told, will be the name of the new package.

Of course it would be premature to indulge into discussing the narrative merits of her enterprise as soon as this, whilst the album hasn't even been released, so I'll ramble as little as possible about the new stuff. I can sure predict this will be a heck of an album, though, starting off with the delicious 5/4 of Good Morning Heartache.

Then there's also a great version of Justin Time including some very tasty beat displacement phrases by Mr. Sousa Machado. That was the first time I've heard him doing such thing, I think. Anyway, you can hear the nice touch of Mr. Melo's arrangements plastered all over the new songs.

[...]

Okay, but no more talk about the new album. Let's talk stage presence. Actually before the gig started, I was discussing which angle she would choose to face the audience on such an odd-shaped stage or whether she would cover a different angle in each song. Well, that turned out not too far from the truth, actually, and I think she really took the most intelligent approach about that. She would spin from song to song or even spin a little bit during some of the songs, so everybody could catch a glimpse of her dazzling eyes.

Again she came with her trademark slightly oversized shoes... yet not so oversized as to prevent her from doing that effective spinning whilst on stage. Yeah, really sexy legs, and really nice lighting over them. Too bad the photographer girl flicking around didn't get that.

Her speech interludes were very subtle and precise, yeah, just like her pitch and her English pronunciation. And even though this was a sort of premiere (probably only foresung in the Albufeira gig she did in September), she's very comfortable with the new material.

Now as far as the sound goes, I'm afraid it was insanely bassy. It may have suited some of the less jazzier acts, like the wonderful Crash Into Me version, but not the concert overall. But then again this a very exquisite room for a jazz gig so we can't be too demanding as far as the acoustics go.

Finally, a word of praise must be directed towards the guest appearances: Mr. Moreira and Mr. Fernandes really did some top-notch contributions, especially in the final song. So in the end the five stars mean this gets to be as good as vocal Portuguese jazz can be. But then what do I know: I'm just a stupid elliptical fan of Marta.