TEMA – Amazon – by Grady Harp

Pianist, arranger, producer and educator, Antonio Adolfo grew up in Rio de Janiero (his mother was a violinist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra) and began his studies at the age of seven. At seventeen he was already a professional musician. His teachers include Eumir Deodato and the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

According to Latin Jazz Network's Canadian editor Raul Da Gama, `Antonio Adolfo and his music have been congenial bedfellows and the Brazilian's pianism and his music are compelling on many different levels. There is a sense of sharing the sheer sensuous thrill of Mr. Adolfo's keyboard writing. At every turn you get a sense of Antonio Adolfo flexing his compositional muscles in this music that goes back almost fifty-five years. There is a sense of Mr. Adolfo demonstrating just how much variety could be built around a tema of melodies. In Antonio Adolfo's hands the music occupies its own world of mood and rhythmic delight. This music is also fashioned in Mr. Adolfo's unique way with counterpoint that is at once strong-jawed and supple. We are always aware of the music's subject, for instance, as it peeks through the texture in different registers or reappears stood on its head, yet is never exaggerated as is sometimes the tendency with less imaginative musicians.'

The ensemble is Antonio Adolfo, piano and electric piano, Marcelo Martins, flute, alto flute and soprano saxophone, Leo Amuedo, electric guitar, Claudio Spiewak, acoustic guitar and electric bass, Jorge Helder, double bass, Rafael Barata, drums and percussion, Armando Marçal, percussion, and Hugo Sandim, additional Samba percussion.

The tracks are as follows:
Alegria For All
Natureza
Phrygia Brasileira
SamboJazz
Alem Mares
Sao Paulo Express
Todo Dia
Trem da Serra
Melos
Variations on a Tema Triste.