Victor Vieira-Branco Trio Live! (Featuring John Moran, Joey Sullivan)
48 Record Bar
48 S 2nd St.
Philadelphia
Feb. 17, 2026
Getting into music, I was a rabid consumer of liner notes: I’d devour the accompanying essays, pore over the lyrics, and study the personnel, especially the musicians; wouldn’t you want to know if that bassist played on other records if you really loved their tone, even if they weren’t the marquee name on the front of the disc? (And if that’s how you discover an entirely separate body of work by a new-to-you artist, all the better!) By the same token, that’s why actual record stores remain heavenly places for those predisposed to digging around in crates: you might set out looking for one thing and find something else even more mind-blowing. Now, it’s one thing to be that kind of nerd about recorded music, and perhaps another thing with live music; you don’t wanna come across as a stalker, somehow always finding out where the guy who played spoons that one time is gonna be. But with all things in life, you gotta follow your nose. So you’ll have to take my word for it when I tell you that my myriad run-ins with live performances featuring the vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco have mostly been unintended until last night, when I checked out his trio’s residency at 48 Record Bar.
The bar is situated upstairs of Sassafras, the Old City staple, a cozy relic with plenty of old-school charm to spare; 48 Record Bar, on the other hand, is smaller and feels a bit more sleek. Predominantly what they’re calling a “listening room and people space,” it’s – to quote their own copy – “inspired by the tiny-but-legendary audiophile bars that have long accompanied Japan’s obsessive record collecting culture.” There’s no cover and no reservations. (Dig that.) This was my first time visiting, and I don’t suspect the vibe of a Japanese jazz kissa would really translate in Old City – do people really come here to sit, have a drink, and listen to records, without really talking? I sort of doubt it, but would be happy to be wrong on that front. Where I was sitting, right by the performers, all chatter ceased, eyes and ears attentively focused on the musicians.
The Victor Vieira-Branco Trio set up by a mantle displaying various trinkets and records – J Dilla’s Donuts, Al Green’s Call Me – with Joey Sullivan on drums in the middle, John Moran on upright by the entrance, and Branco’s vibraphone facing them, by the bar. I’ve seen performances by all three in recent months, in various contexts: all three in the Sam Wenc ensemble, Sullivan and Moran as part of Terra Cotta at Abyssinia last week, Branco with the Chad Taylor Quintet. If nothing else, the experience was a beautiful insight into the insatiable appetites of this stripe of musician, frequently gigging all across the city in all sorts of far-flung, yet related, bands and projects. In this case, it was evident these players are relishing the opportunities afforded by a residency to tell a longer story, to develop, refine and revisit a shared vernacular. It feels wrong and too rote to say the three musicians had a telepathic connection; it was more an active dialogue of anticipation, prediction, and playful agitation. Emphasis on playful. Branco takes the vibraphone, only three octaves wide, and pushes it to its absolute limits, adeptly mixing techniques – bowing the bars, utilizing complex four-mallet runs like a pissed-off Gary Burton, and flirting with beautifully consonant, repetitive, minimalist figures emphasizing that this is, too, a percussion instrument. He coaxed everything from steelpan-esque tones (at his quietest) to high-impact, spectacularly forceful strikes, to wide washes of rippling overtones when cascading through the instrument’s total range with the sustain activated. Though Branco generally took the charge from my vantage, Moran and Sullivan were just as engaging and exciting, whether lingering on pattern-based rhythmic ostinatos and grooves – that genuinely reminded me of Yo La Tengo’s guitar freakouts, swapping guitar for vibraphone – or more free playing.
This was the trio’s last stand before temporarily halting – Sullivan plays drums with the great rock n' roll band Florry, who are about to tour the midwest opening for Chicago’s mighty Ratboys – but, should they resume their stand post-tour, you’d do well to check it out. In the meantime? Plenty of offshoots to explore. If you’re like me and you’re into this kind of music, you just might find them while looking for something else.
