Carlos Malta and Cliff Korman: Saudade do Paulo

Like many mid-20th-century jazz albums, Saudade do Paulo was recorded live in the studio (Biscoito Fino studios in Rio de Janeiro), without the sort of overdubs and retakes more typical of 21st-century projects. The release is digital-only, but what it lacks in physicality it makes up for in substantial liner notes and a sound that is intimate and conversational.

Independently, the Brazilian flutist and saxophonist Carlos Malta and the American-born Brazil-based pianist and scholar Cliff Korman each had longstanding relationships with Paulo Moura (1932-2010), the renowned Brazilian clarinetist-saxophonist, composer, and arranger. Saudade do Paulo brings them together for what is hailed as "the first collection of music composed exclusively by Moura." (Korman's "Saudade do Paulo," the title cut, is the lone exception.)

Korman first encountered Moura in 1981, when the reedist-composer taught a summer course at Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman's innovative Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, which fostered intercultural jazz explorations. The student-teacher relationship flowered into a musical partnership for the pair, leading to several recordings, including Mood Ingenuo: Pixinguinha Meets Duke Ellington (Jazzheads, 1998) Gafieira Dance Brasil (Self-Produced, 2013) and Para Cá e Pra Lá: Paulo Moura Trilha Jobim e Gershwin (Biscoito Fino, 2008).

And in 1976 in Rio, Moura encouraged a young Malta, then a budding flutist, to further his studies at the Villa Lobos Institute. "I must have been about 15 or 16 years old, starting to play the flute," Malta recalls. "He arrived all in white; he seemed to be on a cloud, always. There was an instant musical connection. We became friends and then partners."  

Completing the circle in 2026, Korman remarks that "Carlos and I have a relationship very similar to the one I had with Paulo. A small part of the history of Paulo Moura the composer is on the album, enveloped in an atmosphere that is both jazz and chamber music."  

The program opens in a whoosh with "Guadaloupe," a magical freewheeling air that makes way for a relaxed yet energized rendition of "Tarde de Chuva," one of Moura's most popular choros. The album's eight tracks range from samba to blues, choro, bembé and valsa, introspective ballads to lively tempos, creating a satisfyingly diverse program and a warm-hearted tribute to a beloved friend and genre-spanning Brazilian master.