Gafieira Rio Miami: Beleza Pura

Put on your dancing shoes for Beleza Pura, the sophomore release of Gafieira Rio Miami, the South Florida-based Latin big band. The album presents an exuberant program of Brazilian and Latin jazz standards, updated with spirited arrangements by Ricardo Gilly. The mood is upbeat and the performances are peppered with guest appearances by such Brazilian luminaries as singer Roberta Sá, seven-string guitar virtuoso Yamandu Costa, pianist-composer Antonio Adolfo, and singer-dancer Luciana Mello, along with Puerto Rican flute ace Nestor Torres and other guest artists from Cuba, Peru, and elsewhere in Latin America.

Grammy-winning bassist and producer Diogo Brown founded the band with an eye and ear toward representing the dynamic cultural mixtures of Miami in a little (11-piece) big band that mandates movement. The flavor is rooted in the mid-20th-century samba de gafieira bands of Rio de Janeiro that were in turn inspired by a rainbow of Brazilian popular genres as well as American jazz. To give an idea of the range, you hear music of choro great Pixinguinha ("Um a Zero") side-by-side with that of tropicalistas Caetano Veloso ("Voce Não Entende Nada," "Pé do Meu Samba"), Mauricio Tapajos and Paulo Cesar Pinheiro ("Tô Voltando"), bossa-nova progenitor Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Só Danço Samba"), and samba-jazz creator Jorge Ben ("Mas que Nada"). The blend is rich.

The core ensemble is not huge, but the sound is big and inviting, with Isa Duarte leading the vocals, Brown playing bass and adding some rap on "A Volta da Gafieira," Wesley Cosvosk in the drum chair, and Dada Costa on principal percussion. Three guitars, three pianos, organ, cavaquinho, and three additional percussionists round out the rhythm section. Out front, the group boasts four saxophones, three trumpets, two trombones, and one sparkling flute.

There are plenty of lively moments in Beleza Pura, but to get a feel for the reach of the enterprise, you might start with the band's rendering of Pixinguinha's perennial choro anthem "Um a Zero." Gafieira Rio Miami's setting is bolder and brighter than is typical of a traditional choro ensemble, with Costa's violão bursting forth in a constant stream of melodic invention, undergirded by François de Lima's trombone counterpoint throughout. The texture becomes increasingly thick as the classic AABBACCA form progresses. Eric Chacon's flute sneaks in for the B section, along with a few more horns. Guitar and trombone maintain their primacy throughout, but the band stretches in the C section. Guitar solos first, then flute, and the improvisations intertwine before heading back to the A section to complete the circle with the final inhalation of a typical choro ending. Beleza. As Gafieira Rio Miami's performance shows, a chorinho written in 1919 still has the power to speak to improvisers in the greater jazz nexus and to a dance floor filled with happy 21st-century feet.