Heart of Brazil (Resonance Records)
Eddie Daniels
Released June 1, 2018
Grammy Nominee for Best Latin Jazz Album 2019
Jazz FM 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2019
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_6krhA4ZBaYOkKWdjf_LpK0pAgFq6fEA
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3TLhoScoUhiZ9ZMnUoDjMt?si=IDQ6tAzBSU-TCbRfgwuSJQ
About:
A brand new masterpiece recording from the iconic jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, EDDIE DANIELS, paying tribute to the world-renowned Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Egberto Gismonti. HEART OF BRAZIL features Daniels with the top-shelf trio of pianist Josh Nelson, bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, plus the Grammy Award-winning Harlem Quartet. With new arrangements by Ted Nash, Kuno Schmid and Josh Nelson, Heart of Brazil collects songs from Gismonti’s classic early 1970s albums on EMI Records. The album was produced by Resonance president George Klabin, who has known Daniels since the 1960s and recorded him with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Klabin has long felt Gismonti’s work has been under-appreciated and that there was no one better to pull off an incredible tribute to the Brazilian maestro than Eddie Daniels. Gismonti says in his interview with acclaimed author James Gavin, “When I heard the record I felt immense joy…The repertoire spans a rich period of my composing. What a great present for my seventy years of life.”
Track Listing:
1. Lôro [Parrot] (Egberto Gismonti) 5:08
2. Bãiao Malandro [Badass Baiao] (Egberto Gismonti) 5:51
3. Água e Vinho [Water and Wine] (Egberto Gismonti) 6:07
4. Ciranada [Folk Dance] (Egberto Gismonti) 5:11
5. Folia [Revelry] (Egberto Gismonti) 4:23
6. Maracatú [Sacred Rhythm] (Egberto Gismonti) 5:52
7. Adágio (Egberto Gismonti) 5:59
8. Tango Nova [New Tango] (Eddie Daniels) 5:45
9. Chôro (Egberto Gismonti) 6:02
10. Tango (Egberto Gismonti) 4:40
11. Cigana [Gyosy Woman] (Egberto Gismonti) 7:36
12. Trem Noturno [Night Train] (Egberto Gismonti) 7:44
13. Auto-Retrato [Self-Portrait] (Egberto Gismonti) 6:45
Personnel:
Eddie Daniels: clarinet, tenor sax (3, 4, 8, 12)
Josh Nelson: piano
Kevin Axt: bass
Mauricio Zottarelli: drums
with the Harlem Quartet:
Ilmar Gavilán: violin
Melissa White: violin
Jaime Amador: viola
Felix Umansky: cello
Produced by George Klabin
Cover Painting: Calixto Sales
Recorded and Mixed by George Klabin and Fran Gala
Mastered by Fran Gala
Design: JRocket77 Graphic Design
Review:
When Resonance Records’ George Klabin
pitched Eddie Daniels on this project saluting Egberto Gismonti, the legendary reedist was enthused yet somewhat
trepidatious. Gismonti’s music—a sui
generis form of fantasia that proves evocative in its blending
of Brazilian forms, a jazz harmonist’s argot, and European classical
languages—is no easy nut to crack or translate. But Daniels, of course, is no
slouch. A doyen of the clarinet and an expert at navigating tricky divides like
the potentially deadly jazz-classical fault line, he proved more than up to the
task.
Heart Of
Brazil finds Daniels primarily
interpreting music that Gismonti produced in the ’70s and early ’80s. The
settings, put together by the likes of ace arrangers Ted Nash, Kuno Schmid,
and Josh Nelson, are ravishing; the core quartet—Daniels, Nelson on piano, Kevin Axt on bass, and
Mauricio Zottarelli on drums—sets the music aloft; and the strings of the
Harlem Quartet prove absolutely integral, weaving in, out, around, and through
these spellbinding songs. Once merely a hypothetical dream project for Klabin,
his aspirations have been realized and, perhaps, exceeded.
Opening on “Lôro (Parrot),”
a song penned in honor of Hermeto
Pascoal, Daniels’ clarinet genially bounds
around in concert with Nelson’s keys while outwardly projecting unbridled
virtuosity and warmth. Then the strings introduce “Baião Malandro (Badass
Baião),” a number bolstered by Axt’s lively bass. It offers Daniels and
Nelson some room to open up, all the while nodding to the titular form painted
with a variegated scheme.
“Água e Vinho (Water and Wine)” marks
the first appearance of Daniels’ tenor, emulating the male voice in this most
hauntingly beautiful of scenarios. He holds onto that horn for “Ciranda
(Folk Dance),” playing on passion over dawning rubato, but he returns to
his clarinet when things heat up on the wildly expansive “Folia (Revelry).”
That showpiece par excellence—a bold and audacious bricolage with a genius
arrangement from Nelson—proves to be a real standout on an album full of
them.
As the program progresses, so too does the
feasibility of each song offering a world unto itself. “Maracatú (Sacred
Rhythm)” draws on its eponymous Afro-Brazilian form and rhythm(s) while
offering a melodious high ground and teetering motifs; “Adágio” is
impressionism set free on a starlit walkway, influenced by Ravel and
unabashedly romantic in its embrace of strings; “Chôro” coasts in
with the gentlest of introductions before adopting its namesake style in its
breeziest state; and “Cigana (Gypsy Woman)” paints a beautifully
pensive picture of the roaming Romany. Every gift from Gismonti proves
completely distinctive in nature, and each of these arrangements and
performances illuminates the core qualities of his compositions.
As per usual with Resonance, the packaging has
its place in the story and comes to also represent the seriousness of
intentions behind the project. With an introduction from Klabin, detailed
program notes from the esteemed James Gavin, and a translated interview Gavin
held with Gismonti in early 2018, the liners amplify the brilliance of this
album and the need it fills.
Dan Bilawsky (All About Jazz)
