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5
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Bossa 65

Read "Bossa 65" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright


In 1963, a seventeen-year-old Antonio Adolfo was already gigging professionally on the exploding bossa nova scene in Rio de Janeiro, his hometown. His career has continued unabated. For decades, he has been putting out a steady stream of admirable albums, earning critical praise and multiple Grammy nominations. His releases have often focused on the work of great Brazilian composers (Chiquinha com Jazz, BruMa, Jobim Forever), sometimes on a particular style or genre (Chora Baião, Rio Choro Jazz), on connections between ...

1
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Bossa 65

Read "Bossa 65" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Composer, arranger and pianist Antonio Adolfo has a discography which extends to the very early days of the Bossa Nova craze that swept through Brazil and into North America. With his deep roots in the Bossa tradition, Adolfo is an internationally recognized Brazilian jazz personage. Many of his original compositions have been covered by artists such as Sergio Mendes, Herb Alpert and Stevie Wonder among many others. He has also helped to celebrate the work of well-known Bossa players such ...

4
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Bossa 65

Read "Bossa 65" reviewed by Chris May


A decade or more younger than the composer / musicians in the first wave of bossa nova artists, Antonio Adolfo began recording under his own name towards the end of the 1960s. Better known as a pianist and arranger than as a composer, though he has written some notable tunes, in recent years Adolfo has carved out a niche celebrating the work of belle epoque bossa songwriters. In 2017, Adolfo sidestepped with Hybrido: From Rio To Wayne ...

5
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Octet And Originals

Read "Octet And Originals" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Some people can probably say what they were doing the first time they heard modern Brazilian music. The first wave hit in the early '60s with Vinicius de Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim, but there has been a great deal of water over the dam since then. Stylistic variety, regional variations, new composers, two generations of players, technical advances in both recording and instrumental technique have all played a part in establishing Brazilian as some of the most listenable music. ...

7
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Octet And Originals

Read "Octet And Originals" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Antonio Adolfo is a pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader in the Latin jazz tradition, but his music is informed by Brazilian musical styles of the samba, bossa, quadrilha and toada. This latest Adolfo release entitled Octet And Originals features all his original compositions and are played by a stellar band of musicians who have been connected with him for many years. This ten track outing starts with “Heart Of Brazil," which is a tribute to the ...

6
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Jobim Forever

Read "Jobim Forever" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Pianist, composer, educator and arranger extraordinaire, Antonio Adolfo has been at the forefront of the samba and bossa nova genre for decades. A proponent of the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Adolfo pays tribute to the genre master on the splendid Jobim Forever. This homage focuses on the icon's work from the 1960s, selecting songs that are instantly recognizable as being a part of an era that put Rio de Janeiro on the jazz landscape. In addition to ...

14
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Jobim Forever

Read "Jobim Forever" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Really, is there anyone who does not like Antonio Carlos Jobim (Tom)? Antonio Adolfo, the pianist, arranger, and producer behind this wonderful recording, seems to have lived in a parallel universe to many of us. He says, and it rings true, at the age of twelve, Jobim's music was “love at first sight" in Brazil. Well, it was love at first sight in New Jersey too, via Stan Getz and “A Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema"). Getz may ...

8
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Jobim Forever

Read "Jobim Forever" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


It might be expected that everything one might want to say or write or play about Antonio Carlos Jobim and his music would have been done already. Apparently not. Pianist and friend Antonio Adolfo wanted to go back to the period of the 1960s, to record those Jobim compositions that Adolfo fell in love with as a teenager. Hence the music covered by Jobim Forever comprises those well known ear worms that lit up the bossa nova movement. ...

3
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento

Read "BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Antonio Adolfo and Milton Nascimento are two legends of Brazilian music. These individuals have had a long history of friendship and appreciation, so it should come as no surprise that Adolfo decided to put together an album dedicated to the music of Nascimento. Hence BruMa : Celebrating Milton Nascimento. The reach and influence of singer/songwriter Milton Nascimento stretches far beyond his native Brazil. Among his many achievements are Grammy Nominations, and Down Beat Polls. Many of his compositions ...

6
Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento

Read "BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Brazilian performer/composer Milton Nascimento has given the pop, jazz, contemporary and rock worlds an amazon of music that is almost impossible to comprehend in its entirety. With BruMa pianist-composer Antonio Adolfo and a cadre of outstanding Brazilian musicians he provides a highly stylized, exotic and utterly brilliant Grammy-worthy exploration of Nascimento's works. This album is so inviting and the performances so seductive that the entire album screams to be devoured in one luscious conceptual bite. “Fe Cega ...


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