The music of Brazil

Latin Beat Magazine, August, 2002 by Mark Holston

One of the most touching albums of the season is singer and composer Ivan Lins' tribute to the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jobiniando on the Abril Music label. Another Jobim program is the excellent solo piano foray by Marcos Ariel on his Piano Com Tom Jobim for Humaita Music. Also a tribute, Brazil's greatest female jazz vocalist, Leny Andrade, offers songs featuring lyrics by Ronaldo Boscoli (with music mostly by Roberto Menescal and Carlos Lyra) on Equero que a cancao for Ouver Records. This amazing diva, truly Brazil's Sarah Vaughan, deserves much wider recognition.

And there are instrumental treats galore. From São Paulo, bassist Rogerio Botter Malo explores a pastoral soundscape salted with folkloric references on Aprendiz (Eldorado), while two extraordinary flutists, Teco Cardoso and Lea Freire, team up with a top-flight jazz trio for Quinteto (Nucleo Contemporaneo). Rio's jazz vanguard is well represented by saxophonist Mauro Senise on his Dançando Nas Nuvens, a rewarding mainstream quartet session. Pianist Gilson Peranzzetta, perhaps Brazil's top session keyboardist, explores and updates with finesse and jazzy edges the vintage choro tradition with Senise, harmonica player Rildo Hora and other instrumental stars on Pingole (Marari Discos).

Two of the best Brazilian jazz albums of the year are actually U.S. bred--Café, by Trio Da Paz, and Samba Jazz Fantasy, by trio member and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca. Both sessions, on the Malandro label, are loaded with such noted guests as vocalist Dianne Reeves, saxophonist Joe Lovano, trumpeters Tom Harrell and Claudio Roditi, and a veritable who's who of the U.S. and Brazilian jazz world.

Brazilian imports, usually more rewarding than what U.S. labels choose to release in the States, can be difficult to find in stores, but often pop up in such outlets as Borders, Tower, and Virgin. Web-based outlets (Rio de Janeiro's www.modernsound.com.br and www.dustygroove.com, a Chicago firm with ah excellent cataloy, are tailor made for the serious Brazilian music aficionado).

(Mark Holston writes about jazz, Latin and Brazilian styles for Jazziz Magazine, Canada's The Jazz Report, Americas, Hispanic, Seis Continentes and other publications. The assistance of Varig Brazilian Airlines and Inter-Continental Hotels in Rio and São Paulo helped make this report possible. For more information, he can be contacted at mholston@digisys.net.)