Rio, Choro, Jazz…, by Michael Bailey – AllAbout Jazz and others

Before there was Bossa Nova, there was Choro, which itself was a eutection of European, American and African musical elements. One of the greatest Choro composers was Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth. Nazareth and his music is the focus of Brazilian pianist Antonio Adolfo, whose previous recordings in the vernacular include: Finas Misturas (AAM Music, 2013), Chora Baiao (AAM Music, 2011) and Antonio Aldolfo / Carol Saboya: La E Ca: Here And There (AMM Music, 2010). The rich musical roux is heard immediately on "Nao Caio Noutra" ("Better Next Time") which employs Claudio Spiewak's guitar and Marcelo Martins's soprano saxophone in an infectious ragtime raze from the early side of Nazareth's career. The closing "Odeon" draws deeply from samba, punctuated with Martins' flute in place of his saxophone. Adolfo solos briskly and exactly as elsewhere on the record, proving he is very at home with this music. The disc possesses a decidedly Caribbean mood of humid good times and breezy high life and is delivered in succinct fashion. Adolfo has never recorded a bad album and was not about to start with Rio, Choro, Jazz.