Ivo Perelman

Brazilian tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman ranks among the most active figures in recording, recognized for merging Brazilian folk elements with free jazz and an improvisational approach that has grown more diverse in tandem with his expanding discography. While he sustains the heavily distorted, abstract-expressionist manner first shaped by Albert Ayler, his timbre also aligns with like-minded peers such as Elliott Levin and Ken Simon. Initial trio sessions, among them the 1996 releases Slaves of Job and Revelation that drew on related themes, presented compositions opening pathways to open-ended improvisational excursions; those excursions supplied the groundwork for subsequent decades of music, especially the numerous and stylistically wide-ranging Leo Records titles that encompass 2011’s The Hour of the Star as well as the full sequence of Art of the Improv Trio projects. Beginning with 2013’s The Edge and Art of the Duet: Vol. 1, he established a continuing studio alliance with Matthew Shipp that has produced dozens of albums, among them 2015’s Callas and the seven-volume 2018 set The Art of Perelman-Shipp. The year 2019 marked a shift to ESP-Disk for the quartet date Ineffable Joy, which featured Shipp alongside bassist William Parker and drummer Bobby Kapp. Five additional Perelman titles appeared in 2021, including Garden of Jewels with Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey plus Purity of Desire with Gordon Grdina and Hamin Honari. In 2022 the nine-disc collection Brass and Ivory Tales gathered saxophone-and-piano duets recorded with several of Perelman’s favored pianists.

Born in Sao Paulo in 1961, Perelman took up classical guitar, cello, clarinet, trombone, and piano during his formative years. At age 19 he made the tenor saxophone his principal instrument. After relocating to the United States he spent one semester at the Berklee School of Music in Boston before withdrawing, having developed most of his technique independently.

His path led to Los Angeles in 1986 for private study and live performances. The debut album Ivo, issued in 1989, assembled an all-star ensemble that included drummer Peter Erskine, bassist John Patitucci, percussionist Airto, vocalist Flora Purim, and additional guests. Around the same period Perelman settled in New York.

Throughout the 1990s he established the Ibeji imprint and issued recordings such as Soccer Land and Tapeba Songs. In 1997 he fused Jewish repertoire with avant-garde jazz on En Adir: Traditional Jewish Songs for the Music & Arts label. Maintaining a steady pace of releases, he collaborated frequently with avant-garde musicians, among them bassist Dominic Duval, pianist Borah Bergman, drummers Rashied Ali and Jay Rosen, and pianists Marilyn Crispell and Matthew Shipp.

During the 2000s Perelman sustained his intensive recording activity, most often partnering with pianist Shipp as well as exploratory associates such as violinist Mat Maneri, guitarist Joe Morris, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Numerous sessions appeared on Leo Records, among them 2011’s The Hour of the Star, 2012’s Clairvoyant, 2014’s Book of Sound, and 2016’s Blue. Also in 2016 Leo released the six-volume series The Art of the Improv Trio. The seven-volume The Art of Perelman-Shipp followed in 2017. In 2018 Perelman placed no fewer than five titles with Leo, among them Strings 1, the duo project Kindred Spirits with bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, the triple album Oneness with Shipp, and Spiritual Prayers with saxophonist Jason Stein. In addition to ongoing work with Shipp, 2019 saw the saxophonist and violist Matt Maneri issue three further volumes in the Strings series featuring rotating guests Nate Wooley, Ned Rothenberg, Jason Hwang, and Mark Feldman. That same year Perelman joined drummer Bobby Kapp, bassist William Parker, and pianist Matthew Shipp for the ESP-Disk release Ineffable Joy.

In 2020 he issued Deep Resonance with the Arcado String Trio, the digital six-album Strings & Voices Project that placed him with assorted guitarists, bassists, violinists, and vocalists, and the duet recording Dust of Light\Ears Drawing Sounds with guitarist Pascal Marzan.

January 2021 brought The Purity of Desire, a trio date with oudist/guitarist Gordon Grdina and percussionist Hamin Honari. One month later the duo album Polarity with Nate Wooley appeared on Burning Ambulance. In January 2022 Poland’s Fundacja Słuchaj! issued Brass and Ivory Tales, a nine-disc box set documenting duets with pianists recorded between 2014 and 2021; the pianists involved were Marilyn Crispell, Craig Taborn, Aaron Parks, Vijay Iyer, Angelica Sanchez, Dave Burrell, Sylvie Courvoisier, Augustin Fernandez, and Aruan Ortiz.