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Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto: Por Causa De Voce
by Paul Rauch
Brazilian pianist/composer Jovino Santos Neto came to the United Startes in 1993, and settled in the city of Seattle. He had visited the city while on tour with the legendary Brazilian musician/composer Hermeto Pascoal, and identified with the physical beauty and cultural landscape of the Pacific Northwest. No matter his global location, Santos Neto is not only a remarkable musician and composer, he is as well the caretaker, or curator of the compositions of the visionary Pascoal. Through his own ...
read moreDaniel Santiago & Pedro Martins: Simbiose
by Dan Bilawsky
Symbiosis, referring to a mutually advantageous connection between two parties, is most certainly the proper word to sum up this duo date. Back in the summer of 2015, Brazilian guitarists Daniel Santiago and Pedro Martins took to the quiet confines of a studio in São Paulo and spun out these nine organic beauties. To hear their patient developments, gorgeously entwined lines, fluid rhythmic strumming, and wordless vocals merge from different angles is to hear life unfolding through the art of ...
read moreClarice & Sergio Assad: Reliquia
by Dan Bilawsky
Past and present are entwined in so many beautiful ways on Reliquia--the first collaboration between the father-daughter combination of guitarist Sergio Assad and vocalist Clarice Assad. Together these two trace a backwards course from today's vantage point, exploring their own musical bloodlines and those of their native Brazil. In doing so, they bring together a collection of originals that are timeless in their mode(s) of expression. While there's a certain degree of understatement in much of this ...
read moreVarious Artists: Piano In The House
by Dan Bilawsky
Pianist Benjamin Taubkin is a tireless promoter of the arts in Brazil. When he isn't out concertizing by himself, with the Latin collective América Contemporânea, the choro ensemble Moderna Tradição, the Orquestra Popular de Câmara, or any number of other groups he works with, he can be found busying himself in other arts-related matters. In 1997 he founded Núcleo Contemporâneo, an independent label and production company that's released approximately 75 albums, and in 2011 he expanded that operation with the ...
read moreSoukast/Benjamin Taubkin: Sounds Of Life
by Dan Bilawsky
Electronic threads, street party drums, lively piano runs, meditative moments, metallic zest, and rhythmic seasonings all come to the surface when pianist Benjamin Taubkin and Soukast--the duo of Simone Sou and Guilherme Kastrup, two percussionists who artfully mix sampling into their work--set sail with “Pifaiada," the opening track on Sounds Of Life. There's no simple way to describe all of the sounds of life, so it should come as no surprise that there is no simple way ...
read moreMike Marshall & Choro Famoso: Segunda Vez
by Dan Bilawsky
Segunda Vez comes a decade after this group's eponymous debut--a forty minute album featuring quintet and septet performances. Here, mandolinist Mike Marshall expands the length and breadth of the work while contracting the size of the group; all seventeen tracks on this seventy-plus minute program feature the same quartet--Marshall on mandolin, Andy Connell on clarinet and soprano saxophone, Colin Walker on 7-string guitar, and Brian Rice on pandeiro and other percussion. On the surface, Segundo Vez is ...
read moreBenjamin Taubkin: Al Qantara/The Bridge
by Dan Bilawsky
Music, by its nature, is about building bridges. When it's broken down to its very essence, it's all about forming connections between sounds and souls. That idea, in expanded and magnified form, is the core principle behind Al Qantara/The Bridge. Here, music takes on additional responsibilities, serving as a bridge between styles, syntax, and cultures; it serves as a binding agent between Brazil and Morocco. In 2009, Brazilian pianist Benjamin Taubkin was invited to perform at the ...
read moreRicardo Silveira / Vinicius Cantuária: RSVC
by Mark F. Turner
If there's a recording that could instantly transport you to a balmy tropical island with your favorite beverage in hand, then this wonderful collaboration between Brazilian guitarists Ricardo Silveira and Vinicius Cantuária should do the job quite nicely with a few unexpected surprises. Each has amassed a level of rock-star like acclaim in their respective careers with numerous individual projects and collaborations such as Cantuária's and Bill Frisell's Lagrimas Mexicanas (E1 Music, 2011) and this year's Atlanticos ...
read moreRicardo Silveira & Roberto Taufic: Atlanticos
by Dan Bilawsky
What do you get when two top-flight studio guitarists grab their acoustic axes and get together to bask in the glow of Brazilian music? The answer is the resplendent Atlanticos. Ricardo Silveira is a Brazilian-born-and-based, Berklee-trained guitarist who's recorded hundreds of sessions, backing everybody from flautist Herbie Mann to Brazilian icons like Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento. His partner on this record is Honduran-born Roberto Taufic, who at the age of five made his way to Brazil, ...
read moreJovino Santos Neto: Piano Masters Series, Volume 4
by Dan Bilawsky
Adventure Music's Piano Masters series is all about balancing consistency and individuality. The consistency connects to the instrument(s) on hand--high-end Fazioli pianos--and the quality of the recordings. The individuality, obviously, comes with the artist whose hands grace the piano. So far, the work of Benjamin Taubkin, Philippe Baden Powell, and Weber Iago has come to light through separate volumes in this noteworthy series; now, it's Jovino Santos Neto's turn to find himself behind a Fazioli.Neto, who is best ...
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