CD review: Antonio Adolfo – Jobim Forever 2021: Video, CD cover

Of all Brazilian jazz musicians, the name of the pianist, composer and arranger Antonio Adolfo, one of the veterans of Russian jazz, appears most often in our reviews. 

And in one of the last reviews, commenting on the album BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento (2020), I noticed that Adolfo is increasingly turning to various flashbacks. The new work of the musician only confirms this tendency. If the above-mentioned album by Antonio Adolfo was dedicated to Miltonk Nasciment, then the name of his new work speaks for itself: Jobim Forever.

Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927-1994), also called Tom Jobim, is a classic of Brazilian music, one of the creators of the bossa nova style. For Brazilian jazz, this is an iconic and even symbolic figure, like Louis Armstrong is for American jazz. Dozens of Jobim’s compositions have become standards and firmly entered the repertoire of jazz musicians around the world. It is very rightly noted in the press release for the album Jobim Forever that “his songs are so widespread that it is very difficult to find a fresh approach to his music.” And further: “It took an artist of the caliber of Antonio Adolfo to discover a new sensibility in Jobim’s music and transform it into his own self-expression.”

An experienced master, Antonio Adolfo boldly compiled a program of Jobim’s most famous compositions, including The Girl from Ipanema, How Insensitive, and the very first Jobim theme he ever heard in a car: A Felicidade. And preserving the spirit of the master’s music, Adolfo created such arrangements where the jazz side of these works is very delicately, but confidently accented. A jewelery work in which Antonio was assisted by his usual team of sidemen, as well as two guests: the drummer Paulo Braga, who worked with Jobim in his later years, and the famous Brazilian vocalist Ze Renato, whose voice sounds in the very A Felicidade.

1 The Girl From Ipanema by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and Norman Gimbel
2 Wave by Antonio Carlos Jobim
3 A Felicidade by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes
4 How Insensitive by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and Norman Gimbel
5 Favela (O Morro Não Tem Vez) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes
6 Inutil Paisagem (Useless Landscape) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Aloysio de Oliveira
7 Agua De Beber (Water to Drink) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes
8 Amparo/Intro: Por toda a minha vida (For All My Life) by Antonio Carlos Jobim/ by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes
9 Estrada do Sol (Road to The Sun) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dolores Duran

Musicians

PIANO AND ARRANGEMENTS: ANTONIO ADOLFO
GUITARS (except on track 8): LULA GALVÃO
DOUBLE BASS: JORGE HELDER
DRUMS: PAULO BRAGA (tracks 4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
RAFAEL BARATA (tracks 1, 2, 3, 7)
PERCUSSION: DADA COSTA (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8), RAFAEL BARATA (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 8)
TRUMPET AND FLUGELHORN (tracks and 4, 6, 8, 9): JESSE SADOC
ALTO SAX: DANILO SINNA
TENOR AND SOPRANO SAXES AND FLUTES (tracks 4, 9): MARCELO MARTINS
TROMBONE: RAFAEL ROCHA
VOCAL (track 3): ZE RENATO

SPECIAL GUESTS:
PAULO BRAGA and ZÉ RENATO)