Brasil

Pianist Dave Grusin and guitarist Lee Ritenour are longtime collaborators who have worked together, periodically, for 50 years. In 1985, they released Harlequin, a collection inspired by Brazilian popular music, and brought Brazilian musicians to Los Angeles to record it. Brasil is a sequel appearing some 40 years later. This time, after recruiting a cast of players, Grusin and Ritenour traveled to Rio to record with bassist Bruno Migotto, drummer Edu Ribeiro, acoustic guitarist/vocalist Chico Pinheiro, percussionist Marcelo Costa, and vocalists Celso Fonseca, Ivan Lins, and Tatiana Parra. Harmonica maestro Gregoire Maret also appears. The material melds contemporary jazz with bossa, gentle samba, and MPB. The featured duo contributed three compositions to the set. Opener "Cravo e Canela," composed by Milton Nascimento and Ronaldo Bastos, is led by the glorious acoustic and electric guitar interplay from Pinheiro and Ritenour, before Parra and Maret claim the foreground, guided by Grusins piano stitching harmonies and rhythms. "For the Palms," by Rit, is a vehicle for Maret that weds mysterious samba and forro to contemporary jazz. The interplay between guitarist, pianist, and harmonicist is canny and tasteful. Nascimentos glorious "Catavento" blends Minas Gerais-style folk (the composers hometown) with funky modern jazz that includes a killer uncredited flute break and tasty electric piano from Grusin. On "Vitoriosa," Lins (who composed the song with Vitor Martins) and Parra sound dangerously similar to Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim, guided by Grusins keys, layered percussion, and a brushed snare. "Meu Samba Torto" ("My Crooked Samba") was written by Fonseca and includes his lithe, sensual vocals. Speaking of Jobim, the band covers the composers magnificent "Stone Flower" with killer ensemble play from the percussionists, Migottos rippling bassline, and Grusins lower-register piano vamps leading the rhythm section as Ritenour lays down elliptical lines. The sultry, bumping samba "Boca de Siri" was composed by Pinheiro and brother Paulo Cesar Pinheiro. The guitarist kicks it off and sings, while Ritenour adds ballast, color, and texture atop Grusins layered keys, as the bassist guides the rhythm section in delivering slippery, silvery funk a la Azymuth. Ritenours "Lil Rock Way" features Maret as its primary soloist, with breezy, wordless backing vocals from Parra. Its bluesy guitar feel meets the bands progressive bossa beats and Grusins lyrical chord voicings to create what is essentially a new jazz hybrid. Brasils meld of styles inside such an accessible, continually grooving presentation offers listeners an organic, modern fusion without artifice or production gimmicks. Its one of one the more compelling intersections of music and culture thus far in the 21st century. ~ Thom Jurek