Livio Almeida has been rather erudite in making a not-so-subtle statement in picking Brasília, instead of the obvious – Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo – to make his musical statement. That’s not only wise, but a rather clever way of reflecting his ‘jazz voice’ so to speak, from the profusion of glass that sweeps across Brasília’s landscape.
What better place to ‘reverse-engineer’ the harmonic modes and tone textures of New York’s swinging jazz and still keep the dusty shuffle of samba, Partido alto, marchas, baião and maracatu than in a cityscape that is not unlike NYC, only Brasilian instead
Mr Almeida shows himself to not only being a fine tenor saxophonist, with a grey smoky whoosh of a tenor tone, which makes his playing evocative of quiet sensuality.
This is ideal to paint the picture of curvaceous dancers from some celebrated escola de samba canto e dança do samba, quase sempre com intuito competitive lost in the shuffle along the carnival.
As a composer his music is letter-perfect, both in narrative, character-development, and emotion – not to mention melodic and harmonic conception and, of course, the spectacular off-beat shuffling of Brasilian music.
After an exquisitely atmospheric fade-in to introduce the album with Sambasus – evocative of waking up on his first morning in Brasília – Mr Almeida displays deep understanding – and ingenuity – of a subtly shaded Partido alto on his composition Partido Cerrado, a work of sensuously curved arcs and ellipses superbly infused with edgy, retro urban energy.
On the two compositions that are not his own, but written instead by renowned Brasilians who come before him – the balletic Folhas Secas by Nelson Cavaquinho and Um Girassol da cor do seu Cabelo by one of the mainstays of Clube Esquina, Lô Borges – Mr Almeida brings pronounced dynamic contrasts and varied articulation, flowing meticulously and executed with a sense of sculpted melodic invention.
On hand to make the writing of this music a truly memorable, idiomatic experience is a rhythm section whose artistry is of the first order. Pianist Misael Silvestre, bassist Daniel Castro and drummer Pedro Almeida show that they – in turn – are fully attuned to the vision and artistry of their accomplished leader, Livio Almeida – a magnificent composer and instrumentalist.