Solstice Concert

Raised in Rio and São Paulo, the now LA-based acoustic guitarist has had a busy time recently, with albums for Far Out Recordings, Leaving Records, Real World and the Japanese Rings label within the last 18 months or so. The current release finds him back with LA’s Leaving Records, again melding native musical influences with jazz and electronica, but this time captured in concert with his playmate on Real World’s The Room, Sam Gendel (on soprano sax), along with Gabe Noel on electric bass and Tamir Barzilay on percussion. It’s an introspective dialogue between the four, with the emphasis on improvisation throughout a repertoire of eight, mainly original, numbers. There is a distinct Japanese influence on an interpretation of Hermeto Pascoal’s ‘Ilza na Feijoada’, while traces of choro are particularly evident in the closing ‘Floresta dos Sonhos’. It’s ideal music for contemplation ’neath a cloudless night sky at or around the solstice.