Quick and to the Point : Rewarding Brazilian jazz.
Although over-enthusiastically hailed as a Dave Brubeck-Paul Desmond resurrection in the liner
notes, this Take Five isn’t umbilically linked to its illustrious namesake. It is, however, first-rate
Brazilian jazz that stands on its own with ease, featuring an infectious emotive largesse, melodic
pervasiveness and two festively brilliant reinterpretations of both “A Night in Tunisia,” as well as the
title cut itself.
Two For Brazil is Paulinho Garcia and Greg Fishman. They broaden and diversify the music when
Garcia doubles on two wind instruments and Fishman vocalizes himself into a virtual third
member of this highly effective duo.
Fishman has technical facility and confidence in his capacity to play in the right spirit of the music,
and in
its own idioms – without depersonalizing his playing in the process – an approachable fully toned
range, peppered with muito sabor. Whether enamoring the listener with his sexy whispers in
“Deixa,” his loving melancholic roughness in “Anos Dourado,” the bumble bee boppings of “Menina
Flor,” or his jazzier and more energetic passages in “Take Five” and “A Night In Tunisia,” as well as
his brief but welcomed flute incursions, this saxophonist is in velvety tune with both the material and
his varying roles within this unit.
Garcia’s vocals are embracing. At times, he's a mellow old hand, manly in the delicate sensuality
endemic to Brazil, albeit percussively rich – as on “Batida Diferente.” On “Que Maravilha,” his
storytelling is truly delightful, with percussive breaks to refashion its melodic pulse, within Fishman’s
extremely capable flute playing. Overall, the singing on this recording is organically related to its
guitar performances. As such, Garcia enriches the group in such ways as to make the listener forget
that everything happening stems from just two people. He even enables plenty of bass bottoms with
a fertile and full intonation; his technique is quite fine, and one can actually feel his playing while
listening to this recording.
Between Fishman and Garcia, they give rise to a new organ: the brainheart. There’s no telling
whether it’s two, three, four or just one entity in operation here…
Visit Two For Brazil on the web.
~ Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz
