Leo Gandleman: Visions

This is yet another discovery of mine from that great syndicated show in the USA called the ' Sounds of Brazil '. Like so many of my recent reviews this album contained another ' stop you in your tracks ' cut in the wonderful album opener ' Visons ' featuring Leo on alto sax and keyboards, co writer William Magalhães on keys and an early sample of what was to come from Ricardo Silveira ( remember his stunning ' Francesa ' from the recent Storyteller set ? )

This album is a more North American excursion of Brazilian jazz than say Hector Costita and reminds of the early nineties work by Jurgen Seefelder when he joined Ivan Conto and Alex Mahleiros with Azymuth. Track 2 ' Pirates ' is a mid tempo groove with a predominent and familiar sounding Brazilian traditional accordion played by carioca Oswaldhinho.

The set continues with a laid back smooth jazz sound with ' Nights without end ' featuring another of Brazil's emerging guitarists Torcuato Mariano. How many of these young musicians have been influenced down the years by João Gilberto and Oscar Castro Neves ? ' Point of view ', a mid tempo groover highlights my point about Leo being influenced by the North American sound and this track sounds as if Leo has a few David Sanborn albums tucked away in his collection somewhere.

> Track 5 ' Forever ' is a laid back smoocher featuring that Jaco Pastorius fretless bass sound which I adore whilst ' Kizumba ' features guitarist Alexandre Carvalho playing sl bottleneck guitar to a reggae type excursion which is unusual yet complimentary diversification from the rest of the album.

Incidently most of the tracks on this album were written by Leo and William Magalhães except for the beautiful João Bosco's ' Dance in the woods ' which is a midnight summer adventure not for the faint hearted. Joining Leo on this vocal cut are João Bosco and the talented Cesar Camargo Mariano on keyboards ( who I believe is the brother of Torcuato ). This track is simply bliss to the writer's ears.

If you haven't heard of the name Leo Gandleman, I am not at all surprised, this was my first adventure of his fine and varied playing. If you enjoy the sonds from Brazil mixed with a David Sanborn type groove, then ' Visions ' will be a wonderful insight into a host of new cd's which Leo has recorded for us to enjoy during the past five years.