Henrique Mota Trio: É Pra Jazz

Fusing the Brazilian rhythms of São Paulo with the feel of modern jazz, pianist Henrique Mota offers seven enticing cuts on his latest trio release, É Pra Jazz. With the top-shelf contributions of his bandmates, bassist Iury Batista and drummer Cuca Teixeira, not to mention a couple of esteemed guests, bassist Thiago Espirito Santo and saxophonist Cássio Ferreira, Mota has assembled a winning team for this album, and the resulting music is both joyful and exuberant.

The opening track is the album's one cover, Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba," and here Mota displays his maverick tendencies, providing a spirited rendition that makes only tangential reference to the melody, using an odd-meter groove that highlights the prodigious rhythmic talents of Batista and Teixera, along with a beautiful rubato section from the pianist. It is both musically complex and danceable at the same time, an attribute that applies to much of the album as a whole.

While the other cuts may not be quite as memorable or impressive as the opener, they still reveal Mota's significant skills as a composer. The album's title track is an up-tempo workout, with Mota's right-hand acuity fully evident, while the tunefully swinging "Rudge Ramos" has a Thelonious Monk-like playfulness. And "Avocado" is another tricky piece, with shifting tempos that give all three musicians a chance to dig into the music's knotty contours. The contributions of Santo, whose electric bass has its own melodic charms on the ballad track, "Nobre," and Ferreira, who enlivens the album's closer, "Song for Isa" with a tenacious soprano sax solo, are both fine additions to the trio's successful formula.

É Pra Jazz is a satisfying and convincing glimpse of an artist on the rise, and Mota's upcoming projects will be worth investigating.