It takes more than a simple collection of songs to bring thousands of people together – it requires an artistic statement that overflows with unmistakeable musicality. Songs on their own are ultimately forgettable; when they are infused with the heart and soul of an artist’s personality, they become something magical that sticks in our memory like glue.
Pianist Antonio Adolfo’s Chora Baião captured the imagination of a huge number of people in 2011, winning the titles of both Brazilian Jazz Album Of The Year and Latin Jazz Album Of The Year (among other awards that we announced earlier in the week). A heartfelt tribute to a couple of massive figures in Brazilian music – Guinga and Chico Buarque – Adolfo put together a masterful collection of music that intimately looked at a couple of musicians that influenced him.
It wasn’t just the simple execution of their compositions that made this album great though, it was the way that Adolfo interpreted those songs and let us see them through his eyes. The end result is a very personal gift from Adolfo to the rest of the world that speaks volumes about Guinga, Buarque, Adolfo, and Brazilian Jazz as a whole.
When the music reaches this level, the album becomes more than a simple collection of songs; that’s when an album becomes a personal statement . . . that’s when an album becomes Album Of The Year.