Two For Brazil: Plays the Standards

Two for Brazil is, as its name suggests, a duo: tenor/flautist Greg Fishman and guitarist/vocalist Paulinho Garcia. Although their playing is extremely economical by necessity, its emotive effectiveness fills up the date with luscious melodically percussive sensuousness. A delightful guitar-flute junction beautified by mature, earthy and relaxed vocals on "Tis Autumn" validates such claims. The flute solo is precise, playful, well breathed, melodically rich and harmoniously enriching –as are all the sax versions throughout the record. What's more, both musicians manage to make you hear what’s not there. You can feel a rhythm section, for example, where there’s none. That’s not easily achieved –it takes discipline not to fill the actual or perceived gaps in a performance by overplaying to compensate for them. Good music needs to breathe freely at its own pace and such delicate balance requires talent, discipline and maturity. Two For Brazil have this kind of vision.

The 16 tunes in the recording dwell within proverbial Brazilian musical precincts such as bossa nova and samba, with plenty of eased romance on the arms of jazz standards. It’s a concept and a performance that works very well. Plenty of familiar beauty on this album.

Visit Two For Brazil on the web.