Antonio Adolfo: Carnaval - The Songs Were So Beautiful

What prompted pianist and composer Antonio Adolfo to record, in 2025, an album of songs from the 'golden age' of Brazilian carnaval music, circa 1920-1950? He has known and loved this music since he was a child, growing up in Rio de Janeiro. "All these songs are very alive in my memory," he told All About Jazz. They were "everywhere—on the radio, in the streets, in social clubs." At the time, he saw that "there was some magic in the melodies," but he "just listened and sang, same as anybody." Later, as a teenager, he picked the tunes out on the piano, "but never would imagine that one day I would do an album." His first foray into the repertoire resulted in a lovely saudade-filled solo piano album released in Brazil, Carnaval Piano Blues, (Kuarup Discos, 2005), which is no longer in print.

Adolfo's professional life, which began in the early 1960s, is associated with the 'second generation' of bossa nova composers and players, but his discography covers a wide range of Brazilian and jazz idioms, from choro to Wayne Shorter and much in between. (More on his trajectory is here.) He has long been fluently bi-musical, with jazz as his second language. Carnaval songs form an important part of his native tongue, yet he only began to conceive of Carnaval, the album, more recently. In revisiting the material, the approach he sought was one in which he was able to "combine all my musical experience, and all my musical influences." He made good on that here, creating arrangements rich with jazz harmonies and—with his bandmates—rhythmic feels that are at once rock-solid and as fluid as water. The music is steeped in aquarelle bossa-nova beauty and samba drive, but with a dash of the optimistic verve of big-band jazz. This is a deeply personal rendering of a culturally significant era, by a mature artist in command of creative powers honed over a six-decade career in jazz and Brazilian music.

The performance is strengthened by bonds he and his ensemble have developed through the years, especially with his rhythm section, drummer Rafael Barata and bassist Jorge Helder, and flutist-saxophonist Marcelo Martins, with whom he has recorded numerous sides, along with trumpeter-flugelhornist Jesse Sadoc, guitarist Lula Galvão, percussionist Andre Siqueira, trombonist Rafael Rocha and alto saxophonist Idriss Boudrioua. The horn blends are warm and the solos are finely-etched and genuine, with Martins' flute coming straight from and shooting straight at the heart in tunes like "As Pastorinhas" (Braguinha & Noel Rosa), as does his tenor on "Vai Passar" (Francis Hime & Chico Buarque).

Every member of the ensemble has moments that shine, from the elegant piano-trio-first opening number, "È Com Esse Que Eu Vou" (I'm Going With This One) by Pedro Caetano to the closer, Bide and Marçal's "Agora È Cinza" (Now It Is Ashes), which ends the program on a reflective note, looking back as the celebrations end on Ash Wednesday. Adolfo holds it all together with his gentle touch at the piano and with the pen. The songs were indeed beautiful then, and their loveliness, burnished by time's sands and this band's capable hands, has only increased.