The Whole Music Experience

World / Jazz   Maracatu New York   Baque Do Brooklyn   Nation Beat Music   There’s nothing quite as enticing as Brazilian poly rhythms married to New Orleans jazz and that’s the best way to describe Maracatu New York’s CD Baque Do Brooklyn .   This soulful stew of Afro-Latin grooves gets the heart pumping and the feet dancing.   The music feels like a samba parade entered the room followed by a Mardi-Gras band.   The opener, Roda Baiana sounds pure carnival with New Orleans brass kicking into full gear.   With Samba Lê Lê Brazil beats and vocals meet New Orleans brass and we feel Yoruba gods hanging around.   American percussionist Scott Kettner and his crew of horn players, drummers, and vocalists introduce listeners to the delicious world of drum jam sessions such as on Parada with its power samba drums.   We’re off to the Bayou on Voo Doom with Mark Marshall on slide-guitar.   And we h...

Jazz Deborah Latz   Fig Tree June Moon Productions Ever so often a new voice crosses my path, a musician so authentic, that I pause and take notice.  Deborah Latz comes to jazz by way of musical theater, but she’s no cabaret act, neither is she a smooth jazz crooner.  Latz’ zingy interpretations of jazz chestnuts as well as, her original tunes get under the skin.  Her arrangements surprise us, such as the slowed down Embraceable You which features only vocals and bass or Blue Skies with its light 70s funk.  Latz travels into foreign territory, Brazil with her original E Luxo Só and on the cover Corcovado ( Quiet Nights , Quiet Stars made famous by Astrud Gilberto).  The titular track, Fig Tree also contributes a fun and zestful performance to the CD. It’s hard to come up with any new adjectives not already used by music critics to describe Latz’s voice or style.  So I just decided to enjoy what’s on offer, 14 carefully ch...

World Nilson Mattas Black Orpheus Motema Music The Greek myth featuring the love story about Orpheus and Euridice has captured the attention of music and movie makers.   In 1956, the Brazilian play, Orfeu da Conceicão hit the stages and the sound track, record players.   In 1959, French filmmaker Marcel Camus released the Academy Awards-winner Black Orpheus .   And the Brazilians hadn’t their last word.   Brazilian director Carlos Diegues brought us Orfeu in 1999 (which I have seen).   And this month, Brazilian bassist Nilson Mattas pays homage to the legend-love story with his CD Black Orpheus . Featuring 16 musicians performing both original songs, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá and Vinícius de Moraes’ samba and bossa nova classics (from the Brazilian play and French movie) and it feels like Brazilian carnival has marched into my apartment.   Equal parts romantic, and effervescent, Black Orpheus feels like a spot of sun...

World Sērgio Tannus Son Brasilego Folmusica (Spain) When I received a parcel from the Galician label Folmusica, I wasn’t expecting a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist CD.   Yet, Sērgio Tannus Son Brasilego reminds me of the proximity between Galicia (Northwest Spain) to Portugal.   The Gallego language of the Galician people also shares roots with the Portuguese language so even though Brazil is across the world from Spain or Portugal, Brazilian music shares connections with Galicia.   Besides, some of Galicia’s hottest folk musicians teamed up with Tannus on this sunny recording.   And not only that, I was surprised to see two artists (Ceumar and Antonio Zambujo) whose CDs I reviewed in recent months, sing on the songs, Água Quentinha (Ceumar) and Bethoven Tinha Razão (Zambujo). No wonder their voices felt like a deja vu experience. I much prefer the slower, more sensual pieces, but the samba pieces have me wishing for time on a sunny So...

Ceumar Dindinha Sons Do Brasil Arc Music Falling somewhere between Brazilian pop diva Badi Assad and Afro-Samba chanteuse Monica Salmaso, Ceumar brings us effervescent songs on her new recording Sons Do Brasil (Songs of Brazil).   Ceumar (a name that marries the sky to the sea), blends regional folk music with pop, jazz, and samba performed on this acoustic album.   Her lilting voices recall Badi Assad, but the instrumental arrangements, minimalistic of woodwinds, Portuguese guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, percussion, piano and violin (these instruments appear on the various tracks) recalls Monica Salmaso, as mentioned earlier. Songs of Brazil is one of those albums where sweet revelry meets sensuality, and at times melancholy such as on the titular track, which speaks about the Portuguese “sodade” a term not easily explained in English--a longing sadness comes close.   Fans of the late Cape Verdean vocalist Cesária Evora will re...

Mario Adnet & Philippe Baden Powell Afro Samba Jazz The Music of Baden Powell Adventure Music I spent two weeks listening to Brazilian guitarists Mario Adnet and Philippe Baden Powell’s Afro Samba Jazz and I am still savoring every minute of it. Similar to Virginia Rodrigues’ Mares Profundos (Edge Music, 2003), Adnet’s and Powell’s interpretations celebrate the much revered Baden Powell Afro-sambas. A bus load of musicians appear on the recording including Monica Salmaso, the Adnet clan, Teco Cardosa and too many musicians to name here. They bring their horns, drums, flutes, clarinets, saxophones, guitars and double bass, reminding me of carnival season 6 months premature. On first listen I experienced a memory of hearing Astrud Gilberto’s interpretation of Berimbau on a great hits album I once owned. Then of course, in 2003 I listened to Virginia Rodrigues’ Celso Fonseca’s covers of Baden Powell’s Afro-Samba classics. The sambas engage listeners with lush African po...