Pianist/Composer ANTONIO ADOLFO's LOVE COLE PORTER

In the last several years, his recordings have focused on a particular Brazilian musician or style of music. He released BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento in 2020, Jobim Forever in 2021, and Bossa 65: Celebrating Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal in 2023. But Adolfo is not just a Brazilian or Latin musician. His complex jazz harmonies reveal the influence American jazz has had on his playing and arranging.

Bossa nova was born over 65 years ago at musical gatherings in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The music of the great Broadway composers, like George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, had a great impact on the young musicians creating their own, new style of music that would soon spread around the world. Adolfo’s newest release, LOVE COLE PORTER, is an homage to the beloved American composer, who is among his favorites. Adolfo says, “The music of this genius was immortalized through his unique melodies, lyrics, harmonies and phrasing.”

Joining Adolfo are seasoned Brazilian musicians who have been on several of his recent recordings. The reputation of each of these players extends well beyond their native land. They are LULA GALVAO (guitar), JORGE HELDER (double bass), RAFAEL BARATA (drums), DADA COSTA and RAFAEL BARATA (percussion), JESSE SADOC (trumpet, flugelhorn), DANILO SINNA (alto sax), MARCELO MARTINS (tenor & soprano sax, flute), and RAFAEL ROCHA (trombone).

Adolfo chose songs for LOVE COLE PORTER not only for their beauty but also because they lend themselves so well to the Brazilian jazz idiom. He has been performing several of the tunes on gigs with different sized groups, and even recorded some of them on previous albums. For this album, he reconceived all the previously recorded compositions for a nonet configuration and added new ones to his repertoire.

There is more to Brazilian jazz than samba and bossa. There is also a myriad of other styles, like toada, ijexá, frevo, quadrilha, partido alto, among others, which are not well represented in Brazilian jazz. Adolfo explains, “I started out by experimenting with different Cole Porter tunes on the piano, trying out different styles of Brazilian music. It took a while to bring them into my musical world and ideas.”  

Adolfo opens the album with “Easy to Love,” a song he had previously recorded. The arrangement reflects the 1960s samba jazz style performed by musicians on the Beco das Garrafas (Bottles’ Alley) heyday in Copacabana.

For Adolfo, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” is one of Porter’s most beautiful, romantic, and inspired melodies. A slow bossa, the tune features two inspired solos by Sadoc and Galvao, as well as background vocals by Adolfo. Jobim favored “I Concentrate on You” and included it on the album he recorded with Frank Sinatra. Adolfo arranged it with a similar bossa feel. The tune features lovely solos by Martins on flute and Rocha on trombone.

“I Love You” is a popular song performed frequently by jazz musicians. Adolfo says, “The melody is so well constructed, and it inspired me to write a 6/4 intermezzo combining it with a medium tempo samba jazz feel. The first chorus comprises a trumpet solo accompanied by the bass before the entire group joins in.”



“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is a mashup of two Brazilian styles, toada (a romantic baiao) and bossa. The band performs “Just One of Those Things” as a fast tempo frevo and quadrilha, two dance styles that originated in the Brazilian northeast. Adolfo arranged “Love for Sale” as an ijexa, a style from the northeastern state of Bahia. Adolfo also mixed samba and samba-funk grooves.

“Night and Day” is one of Porter’s most famous compositions. Adolfo reworked the harmony, phrasing, and melody, changing the form AAB to AB and including breaks with 16-bar solos on bass by Jorge Helder and then Rafael Barata on drums before going back to the chorus. He based the arrangement for “So in Love” on an arrangement he wrote for singer Carol Saboya some time ago and captures the romance of the tune with a slow tempo bossa.

The album closes with a joyful rendition of “You Do Something to Me” featuring solos by Sinna on alto sax and Rocha. Adolfo says, “We close this tune with some Carnaval elements in the coda. People say that in Brazil everything ends in Carnaval. And maybe that’s true!”

Although Cole Porter’s music has been performed and recorded by hundreds of musicians over the years, Adolfo’s gorgeous reharmonizations and the splendid musicianship by the entire band make LOVE COLE PORTER a stunning addition to both the Cole Porter oeuvre and Adolfo’s extensive discography.

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LOVE COLE PORTER  will be available June 7, 2024 at www.aammusic.com and online everywhere.

Online:

antonioadolfomusic.com

aammusic.com