Lalo Schifrin Brazilian Jazz CD

The music of Brazil has been a great source of insirpation to jazz musicians all over the world, including the USA. The contagious rhythms, the lyrical melodies and sophisticated chord progressions from Rio, Sao Paulo, and Bahia were able to seduce and inspire artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea. Aleph Records.

Personnel includes: Lalo Schifrin (piano); Leo Wright (saxophone, flute); Christopher White (bass); Rudy Collins (drums); Joe Paulo, Jack Del Rio (percussion).
Recorded in 1957.
Personnel: Lalo Schifrin (piano); Lalo Schifrin; Christopher White (bass instrument); Jose Paulo (pandeiro); Leo Wright (flute, saxophone); Rudy Collins (drums).
It was an exciting time for Brazilian music in the early '60s, when bossa nova and samba rhythms came to occupy a special place in the heart of American jazz musicians. These contagious rhythms, lyrical melodies, and sophisticated chord progressions from Rio, Sao Paulo, and Bahia practically seduced artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and, later, Chick Corea. Pianist Lalo Schifrin, who became one of the world's greatest jazz musicians and composers, gathered members of Gillespie's band -- bassist Chris White, drummer Rudy Collins, and flutist-saxophonist Leo Wright -- for this exciting date, originally recorded in 1962. The quartet creates a powerful polyrhythmic sound, with lead voice switching off between Schifrin's lively ivories and Wright's graceful flute on the most effective tracks like "Chora True Tristeza." The quartet is enhanced by Latin percussionists Jose Paulo of Brazil and Jack Del Rio of Argentina; Paulo performs on the pandeiro, a Brazilian tambourine, while Del Rio adds subtle emotional whispers of rhythm with the cabaca, a gourd instrument covered with a loose network of beads. It's always exciting to hear how Schifrin and his colleagues egg each other on to play quicker and quicker flurries of notes, but the slower passages -- like the opening minutes of "Poema Do Adeus" -- create an interesting counterpoint. The way this tune explodes percussively tends to indicate that no matter how they try to tame themselves, these musicians can't quite keep it still for too long. Accept no substitutes; this is classic Brazilian music in its purest original form. ~ Jonathan Widran