Trio Da Paz: Somewhere

Somewhere is comprised of tunes that Trio Da Paz had never recorded before and others the group had never played. The latter were certainly more challenging, but in tandem the new options provided a lure for these three players to get in and fill the music with their own approach. And it certainly is some approach: fresh and inventive, taking tunes out of their known clasps and freeing them into an enticing and adventurous mould. That is the marvel and the accomplishment of this record, which comes in like a waft of heady, fresh air as these musicians take on Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Baden Powell, among others.

Guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta, and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca have been playing together for fifteen years, a span that has seen them coalesce into a seamless outfit, each part an extension of the others in their collective understanding and development of a song. This recording speaks volumes for all of their attributes.

They switch the rhythm of "Take Five to 3/4 from 5/4, the first part of the song presented in the Maracatu rhythm of northeast Brazil at 3/4 instead of the original 4/4. Complicated? Not so. Trio Da Paz ignites the tune with a rush, Lubambo bringing in colorful textures with his chunky chords and Da Fonseca creating a lush underbrush with his fiery drumming.

The atmosphere is relaxed and warm as the players "Look to the Sky. This gentle foray is marked by Lubambo's luminous acoustic work, with Matta and Da Fonseca emphatic brothers in arms. Matta offers a pleasantly coaxing solo, but he gets the opportunity to dig another adjunct on the spirited "Babel (Samba Novo) with some melodic improvisations that turn the bass into a leading voice. They end it all with an impeccable "Corcovado, radiant and basking in the emotion that each musician so compactly instills.