Album review: Antonio Adolfo - Love Cole Porter (AAM Music)

Antonio Adolfo (piano, arrangements,); Lula Galvao (guitar); Jorge Helder (bass); Rafael Barata (drums); Dada Costa (perc.); Jessé Sadoc (trumpet, flugel); Danilo Sinna (alto sax); Marcelo Martins (tenor/soprano sax, flute); Rafael Rocha (trombone) 

Adolfo has had a career lasting 60 years during which time he has released 25 albums one of which reached the BSH Building back in 2021 and was reviewed HERE.

On this album we have a cleverly arranged fusion of jazz and various Brazilian rhythms on well known Cole Porter songs. As Adolfo points out, there is more to Brazilian jazz than samba and bossa. This I discovered as I found myself constantly referring to the notes to identify the different rhythms. 

Easy to Love (samba). Cutting tenor solo, boisterous trombone and nice piano. Reminiscent of the old west coast scene but with more guts.

Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (bossa). Trumpet, guitar and piano solo. The blurb also has 'vocal by Antonio Adolfo' listed but, if you're anticipating something along the lines of Ella's classic recording then think again. The 'vocal' is in fact some humming over the piano. A bit like those grunts that female tennis players emote with annoying regularity at Wimbledon. Fortunately, they're less audible here and more melodic.

I Concentrate on You (bossa); cool solos by flute and trombone keep it out of the Easy Listening rack - just! 

I Love You (samba). Trumpet and bass duet. High register Latin trumpet playing of the first order. Alto wails reminding me of another alto player whom I heard only yesterday.

I've Got You Under My Skin (toada/bossa). Toada, seemingly a romantic biaio, has more hard blowing alto which isn't romantic at all by South Tyneside standards although it may have more pulling power down in Rio. Whatever, the playing is certainly on the money.

Just One of Those Things (frevo/quadrilha). A brisk romp that combines the frevo and the quadrilha. I'm not too sure when the rhythms change, suffice to say that Sadoc's trumpet blast goes with the flow up there where the air is rarefied.

Love for Sale (ijexá). To clarify matters in my, by now, befuddled mind I Googled ijexá only to be referred to another piece of Braziliana the afoxé which of course I knew all along. Adolfo added some samba groove funk into the mix. Trombone and guitar handle the rhythmic complexities with apparent ease.  

Night and Day (bossa). Adolfo changed the tune's  format around (how dare he?) but it seems to have worked although Mr Porter might have disagreed. Bass and drums put their cards on the table.

So in Love (bossa). This is romantic. Cocktail lounge piano. A suggestion of Jobim's Aqua De Beber in the arrangement made me feel like running out into the street and asking the first woman I saw if she fancied a slow bossa. I didn't ...

You do Something to Me (bossa). A Carnaval atmosphere pervades. As Adolfo says, 'Everything in Brazil ends in a Carnaval' (their spelling) and the trombone solo and the rhythmic fade-out virtually takes you down there without having to queue all day at Heathrow. 

Check out Easy to Love. Lance