Brazilian Whispers

Andrea Brachfeld
Brazilian Whispers
Origin Records

Liner Notes

For more than a half of a century now the sound of Brazilian music –samba and bossa nova – has been whispering in the ears of jazz lovers all over the world. Ever since the release in the early sixties of Stan Getz’s pioneering collaborative efforts Jazz Samba with Charlie Bird and Getz/Gilberto with Joao Gilberto, the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim have been making their mark as noteworthy additions to the Great American Songbook and thus the source for creative improvisation by some of jazz’s greatest artists. Andrea Brachfeld, who has already in a decades long career made her mark in both jazz and Afro Cuban music circles, demonstrates on this date the expansive breadth of her talents with her own personal interpretations of pieces culled from the Jobim canon.

Brachfeld notes, “I’ve always had Brazilian music around me. I’ve played Latin music for many years and people would say to me, “Oh you should play Brazilian music.” I always thought if I was going to play Brazilian music, I was going to really do it, so I started going to listen to more Brazilian music at forro sessions. I also began listening to classical Brazilian music –the choros – and started playing them at the forros. I always liked Brazilian music, but I knew that I would need to really put in the time to study it in an authentic way if I wanted to really play it right. Then I thought for this record, if I could get the right people on the date to interpret it my way who really know Brazilian music, it could work.

The musicians here all “really know” Brazilian music. The date features Brachfeld’s working band Insight, with the flutist’s long time colleague, pianist Bill O’Connell, along with bassist Harvie S and drummer Jason Tiemann. She notes, “We’ve been playing together for almost three years now and I feel like there’s been a real progression and that we’re deepening musically as a quartet and becoming more of a unit. There’s also been a kind of spiritual growth which is reflected in the music and I’m really happy about that.” The group is augmented on several tracks by guitarist Roni Ben-Hur and percussionist Chembo Corniel, both of whom Brachfeld has worked with. On half the date the rhythm section changes up to include O’Connell’s longtime David Valentín bandmate, electric bassist Lincoln Goines, and Portinho, arguably the most important drummer in contemporary Brazilian music.

Commenting on the eclectic repertoire played here Brachfeld notes, “My main concept was choosing songs that I love and that just felt right to me. Basically I listened to a lot of Jobim songs and the ones that I really liked are the ones that we recorded.” Confessing that many of the songs were new to her, the quality of her emotive readings of the pieces, collaboratively arranged with O’Connell, bear out the efficacy of her selections, many of which are not commonly played in a jazz setting. The date opens with one song that she had played before, Jobim’s “Double Rainbow.” She recalls, “I did a Brazilian – themed concert in Winnipeg, Canada with guitarist Marcos Castillo and the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, and he brought out “Double Rainbow” It was really beautiful. The tender Jobim waltz gets the date off to a breezy start with Insight, plus Ben-Hur and Corniel, providing an ethereal atmosphere over which Brachfeld soars with elevating dynamics, followed by earthy guitar and Fender Rhodes solos before returning to the theme for a soft landing.

O’Connell moves over to acoustic piano and Goines and Portinho take over in the rhythm section for “Passarim which means bird. One of Jobim’s most stirring pieces, Brachfeld enhances the beautiful melody overdubbing four separate flute parts to accentuate its haunting harmony before taking off on an ascendant solo flight. The flutist credits “O’Connell’s genius” for coming up with the idea to play “Waters Of March , Aguas De Marco, over Harvie S’s walking bass and Jason Tiemann’s shuffle rhythm that provides a pulsating underpinning for soulfully swinging flute and piano solos. Roni Ben-Hur’s Spanish – tinged guitar introduces “Amparo,” before sharing the solo spotlight with Brachfeld’s alto flute and O’Connell’s piano on the gently swinging bossa nova. Portinho and Goines are back for “Sonhos e Cores , Dreams and Colors, an easy grooving bossa by Brachfeld and O’Connell that is tinged with melancholic optimism.

Brachfeld confesses, “The samba medley I kind of pulled together in the studio. I was thinking of recording a lot of different traditional rhythms so I did a lot of research. Then the night before the recording these three tunes came together as a medley and it was perfect. Roni really helped with that because he had some of the music and I didn’t have to explain much of the concept when we recorded it with Portinho playing the amazing accompaniment on the drums. It was just what I wanted.” She continues, “I recorded ‘Never Let Me Go’ as a homage to the great Roy Hargrove. I heard a recording of him playing it and I thought it was so gorgeous, I just love it.” She switches to alto flute for this one, playing with inspired intensity backed by Insight. Goines and Portinho return, laying down a funky beat on the romantically tinged medium tempo partido alto “Ligia” that finds Brachfeld blowing with singing joyous lyricism and Ben-Hur and O’Connell, on Fender Rhodes, soloing soulfully.

O’Connell once again gets kudos from Brachfeld for coming up with the idea for his innovative arrangement of “Girl From Ipanema.” Arguably the most popular song in the Brazilian repertoire, it’s never been heard like this before, with Goines’ galloping bass line and Portinho’s effervescent samba drumming propelling energetic flute, piano and guitar solos. The date ends with a pair of Brachfeld-O’Connell Brazilian inspired original compositions. “Triste e Solitaria, Sad and Lonely, which features Insight with O’Connell on Fender Rhodes in an ethereally moving excursion that lives up to its title, before the disc closes with “Espaço Aberto Open Space, a jaunty up tempo samba featuring Goines’ articulate electric bass work, putting an emphatic exclamation point on a date that confirms Brachfeld’s well earned position in the hierarchy of jazz flutists.

Liners by Russ Musto

Critically acclaimed flutist Andrea Brachfeld pays tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim on her newest recording and debut release for Origin records, Brazilian Whispers. Inspired by the Brazilian music scene in New York City, where she has resided for five decades, Brachfeld’s ninth recording as a leader showcases her virtuosity as a player and composer over the course of 11 tracks. She puts her spin on Jobim classics “Waters of March”, “Girl From Ipanema” and “Ligia”, among others, and demonstrates her compositional prowess on three Brazilian-spirited original songs that were co-written with frequent collaborator Bill O’Connell: “Espaço Aberto”, “Sonhos e Cores” and “Triste e Solitaria”. With Brazilian Whispers, Brachfeld solidifies her place in the modern jazz pantheon and proves why she is “one of the most important voices in the history of the contemporary flute” – Raul da Gama, Latinjazznet.

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