Antonio Adolfo and the Emergence of Samba Jazz

courtesy of Jazz Promo Services

I first became aware of Brazilian jazz pianist Antonio Adolfo (a native of Rio de Janeiro) in 2014, when he released the album Rio, Choro, Jazz… on his own AMM Music Label. The album was a tribute to a fellow pianist of an earlier generation,  the composer Ernesto Nazareth (1863–1934). Adolfo himself composed the first track, named after the title of the album; and all remaining tracks were performances of Nazareth’s music by Adolfo’s trio (with Claudio Spiewak on guitars and Jorge Helder on bass), supplemented by other instrumentalists as appropriate.

At the end of this past July, Adolfo released his latest AMM album, another tribute offering entitled Samba Jazz Alley. This time the tribute is to Rio itself as the birthplace of Brazilian Jazz and the impact of the samba on that genre. This time the ensemble is much larger, but Helder is still Adolfo’s bass player. Spiewak, on the other hand, only contributes percussion to three of the nine tracks; but the overall ensemble sound is consistently impressive.

I still consider myself a novice where Latin music is concerned, but that does not attenuate my efforts to become more familiar. Thus, not counting Adolfo himself, only two of the composers of the tracks on this album were new to me. The exceptions were Baden Powell, whom I have encountered at some of the guitar recitals I have attended, and (of course) Antônio Carlos Jobim. Mind you, my knowledge of the full Jobim corpus is also pretty slim, meaning that the only track on the entire album that registered as familiar was “Corcovado.”

Adolfo contributes to only two of the album’s nine tracks as composer. The more interesting of these is “Hello, Herbie,” composed as yet another tribute, this time to Herbie Hancock. My guess is that Adolfo was giving a nod of thanks in recollection of the August 30, 1963 Blue Note session for the album Inventions and Dimensions. This was a quartet album on which pianist Hancock and bassist Paul Chambers were joined by two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo and Osvaldo “Chihuahua” Martinez.

As was the case on his Nazareth album, Adolfo is consistently imaginative and expressive. His interpretations may be easy on the ears; but they are a far cry from “easy listening.” There is a tendency to think of Latin genres strictly in terms of their characteristic rhythms, but there is just as much innovation lurking behind the melodic lines themselves. Writing as one still becoming acquainted with the genre, I continue to appreciate the roles that Adolfo has played in leading me through the less familiar niches of the repertoire. (His new release will probably also send me back to deeper listening of Inventions and Dimensions.)