| Jazz |
Since the early 1980s, a growing number of musicians have ventured across the fluid border between classical music and jazz. Spanish flutist and composer Fernando Brox belongs to that select circle for whom the act of creation itself becomes the only true home. Trained in the rigors of classical music from the age of eight, Brox eventually found that the discipline of counterpoint and the spontaneity of improvisation were not opposing forces but complementary languages. His latest recording positions him as a composer for whom stylistic boundaries have long ceased to exist.
Here, Brox reveals himself more as a musical architect than a soloist. His playing, though always expressive, serves a higher structural aim: to demonstrate the power of compositional design and rhythmic architecture. The album is built upon a dialogue between form and freedom, each track exploring the point where intellectual construction meets instinctive expression. In that balance, Brox achieves something rare: music that satisfies both the analytical mind and the intuitive ear.
Following his 2024 release on the prestigious Fresh Sound Records, this new project continues his exploration of modern compositional systems. The underlying concept draws from a fascination with the hidden frameworks that govern both music and the natural world, those architectures we feel more than we consciously perceive. Brox experiments with twelve-tone rows, set theory, Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition, and other atonal techniques. Rather than using these methods as constraints, he employs them as tools to liberate new possibilities of melody and harmony. Each composition reflects a delicate equilibrium between logic and emotion, mathematics and poetry.
The album was recorded in less than three hours at Jazzcampus Basel, most tracks captured in a single take, a testament to Brox’s commitment to spontaneity. The performances have the organic precision of chamber music, yet the fluid urgency of jazz improvisation. Brazilian drummer Paulo Almeida brings a powerful emotional layer, particularly on “Salutation to Naná,” where his pandeiro and vocal chants infuse the music with ritualistic depth and ancestral resonance.
At its core, What We Don’t See is a meditation on perception and creation. It invites the listener to consider the unseen, the mathematical patterns, emotional currents, and cultural histories that shape sound. It’s music that demands attentive listening, rewarding each return with new layers of discovery. Brox’s compositional voice evokes echoes of Messiaen and Gershwin, but also Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier, artists who, like him, sought to merge intellect and intuition.
Ultimately, Brox’s work reminds us that the future of jazz may not lie in stylistic revival but in the continuous integration of new languages. His is a music of ideas, but also of humanity, a synthesis that situates him among the most intriguing composer-improvisers of his generation.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, November 11th 2025
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Musicians :
Fernando Brox | Flutes, Composition
Lorenzo Vitolo | Piano
Joan Codina | Double Bass
Paulo Almeida | Drums, Voice
Track Listing:
Dark Matter
XII
Background Radiation I
Perpetual Motion Machine
Background Radiation II
Rubatello
Etude No. 2
Background Radiation III
Silver Moon
Naná Burukú (Salutation)
We Are Always Coming Back Home
Forró Escuro
Density-Void