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Antonio Adolfo: Balaios
by Katchie Cartwright
Antonio Adolfo draws a parallel between balaios, the baskets that African Brazilian women have carried on their heads for centuries, and musical albums. “Each piece is placed carefully inside, shaped by the moment in which it was born, yet carried into the present with renewed meaning," he says. He speaks of Balaios as a gathering of “what he has cultivated over time--ideas, memories, and melodies." The project, a retrospective of sorts, has a particular focus on the composer-pianist's long association ...
Continue ReadingAntonio Adolfo: Carnaval - The Songs Were So Beautiful
by Pierre Giroux
Veteran pianist, composer, and arranger Antonio Adolfo has long been a master at capturing the essence of Brazilian music through a jazz perspective. On Carnaval (The Songs Were So Beautiful), Adolfo draws on a wide range of traditional Brazilian carnival styles-- sambas, marchinas, marchas-rancho, and frevos--to create a vibrant and richly textured album that bursts with celebration while leaving space for nuance and reflection. This is not a jazz adaptation of Brazilian music; it's Brazilian music elevated with jazz sophistication ...
Continue ReadingAntonio Adolfo: Carnaval - The Songs Were So Beautiful
by Katchie Cartwright
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 ...
Continue ReadingPaula Maya: Rio de Janeiro
by Richard J Salvucci
It is important to understand that this is a Brazilian recording which, like singer Paula Maya, made its way to the United States. Maya, who now calls Austin, Texas home, writes, plays, teaches and sings. She has a significant number of previous recordings--nearly a dozen--to her credit, but this one is a bit different. For one thing, it is an authentic product of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), an urban movement that dates to the 1970s, if not a bit earlier. ...
Continue ReadingMusic
Rio de Janeiro
From: Rio de JaneiroBy Andre Siqueira
