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Joao Palma

A legendary Brazilian drummer who moved to the U.S. in 1966, João Palma recorded with Frank Sinatra (Sinatra & Company), Michael Franks (Sleeping Gypsy), Milton Nascimento (Courage), Paul Desmond (Bridge Over Troubled Water), Walter Wanderley (Moondreams, When It Was Done), Ithamara Koorax (Love Dance, Someday), Rodrigo Lima (Saga), Robin Kenyatta (Stompin' At The Savoy), Astrud Gilberto (Gilberto with Turrentine), Luiz Henrique (Mestiço) and many others.

He worked with Antonio Carlos Jobim from 1969 to 1977 (recording such landmark albums as Tide, Stone Flower, Urubu and Matita Perê, plus a single with the original version of Águas de Março aka Waters of March), and was a member of bands leds by Sergio Mendes (doing Mendes' original recording of Mas Que Nada plus the albums Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Equinox and Look Around), Roberto Menescal (doing four albums with him), Maysa, Astrud Gilberto, João Donato, Stanley Turrentine, Suely Costa, Yana Purim, Dori Caymmi, Luiz Henrique and George Russell.

In 1996, he formed his own quartet (with Paulo Malaguti, Augusto Mattoso, Juarez Araujo and singer Ithamara Koorax), performing sold-out engagements at Vinicius nightclub in his native Rio de Janeiro, where the group was filmed for a broadcast on Japanese TV. Died on May 09, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at age 75, soon after a three-month engagement at Bottle's Bar jazz club in Rio de Janeiro.

Rodrigo Lima: Saga

Read "Saga" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
April 17, 2015

“I fell in love with the jazz guitar--all kinds of jazz guitarists, from Jim Hall to Pat Metheny to Luis Bonfá, by listening to their records," explains Brazilian composer, arranger, bandleader and guitarist Rodrigo Lima. Saga luxuriously extends this jazz guitar love affair across the American and Brazilian continents--it was recorded in New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba--and across the two CDs of Lima's utterly magnificent recorded debut. Producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro elegantly ...

291

Album Review

Ithamara Koorax: Love Dance: The Ballad Album

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 7, 2003

Ithamara Koorax has released several albums in Brazil and Japan, but Love Dance is only the second US album for this star from Rio, the follow-up to her debut Serenade in Blue.

With her unmistakable voice, Koorax sings English, Portuguese, and Spanish love songs composed by such masters as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, Marcos Valle and Ivan Lins, plus songs by Claus Ogerman and Jurgen Friedrich (in German). Her voice manifests this diversity to its advantage: ...

391

Album Review

Antonio Carlos Jobim: Stone Flower

Read "Stone Flower" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
May 6, 2002

Jobim has been described as the Gershwin of Brazilian music, which is an apt title for a man who contributed so many original songs to the jazz repertoire, adding a few standards along the way. Those who were inspired to follow his work after “The Girl From Ipanema” may have picked up Wave, his most well-known solo record, but may have overlooked Stone Flower, a markedly better effort. The drippy strings on the former record brought out the quiet romanticism ...