Samba Jazz Fantasia - Duduka Da Fonseca

Aug

4

Samba Jazz Fantasia - Duduka Da Fonseca

≡ Category: 2000s, Latin Jazz, Recommended, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

If you cohabit with someone whose taste in music runs to Maroon 5, Jack Johnson, John Mayer and Coldplay, popping Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Fantasia into your cd player won’t cause them to run screaming from the room the way Vijay Ayer’s Reimagining might, for example. That’s another way of saying that Samba Jazz Fantasia is mainstream Brazilian Jazz. There is plenty of sophistication in these tracks, but there’s nothing harsh or overtly dissonant to scare away the average music consumer.

True to it’s name, most of the tracks on Samba Jazz Fantasia are variations on the samba. There are uptempo tunes, odd meter tunes, ballads, and so on, but they all have the characteristic lilt that we associate with Brazilian music.

Actually, part of the reason for that might be drummer and bandleader Duduka Da Fonseca himself. I first heard of Duduka Da Fonseca from his work on John Scofield’s Quiet, one of Scofield’s best and most idiosyncratic releases on the Verve label. I wondered at the time where Scofield had found this drummer, and why he had chosen him for the album. Now I know. Although Quiet is not a Brazilian jazz album, it has a lot of the same underlying lilt and feel of Samba Jazz Fantasia, thanks to Duduka Da Fonseca’s drumming.

Samba Jazz Fantasia flows along pleasantly enough. It starts out with a 7/4 medium burn samba, Partido Out, with a trombone solo by Jay Ashby which is reminiscent of the work of the great trombonist from the 70s, Raul De Souza, but of course Ashby’s tone isn’t quite as buttery.

Duduka Da Fonseca has stocked Samba Jazz Fantasia with any number of other competent soloists, including John Scofield on electric guitar, Romero Lubambo on acoustic guitar, Kenny Werner and Marc Copland on piano, Tom Harrell and Claudio Roditi on trumpet, and Joe Lovano, David Sanchez, and Billy Drewes on saxophone.

The large cast of musicians allows for a great deal of variety in the arrangements. You have everything from a simple guitar/bass/drums trio to a full band with horn charts and singing.

A particular standout for me was Pro Flavio, composed by guitarist Romero Lubambo, which clearly owes a large debt to the work of composer/guitarist Egberto Gismonti. The piece starts out with a berimbau solo before diving into a 12/8 vamp featuring an augmented fourth interval featuring percussive acoustic guitar (that’s the Egberto Gismonti influence). Some relief from the tension is offered by a more conventionally harmonized bridge. John Scofield does some great work on electric guitar here, too.

Overall, Samba Jazz Fantasia is quite rich. There’s a lot to explore if you’re a student of arranging or Brazilian music. The solos are competent and sometimes inspired and would reward close study. What Samba Jazz Fantasia won’t do is cause you to see music in a new way (unless you haven’t heard Brazilian music before). There is nothing particularly innovative going on here, just well performed and arranged mainstream Brazilian jazz, and for me, that’s enough.