REVIEW: Roger Davidson Quintet’s “Brazillian Love Song”
Jazz and bossa nova have had a torrid love affair for many years, it seemed they enjoyed each other’s musky aroma and found time to explore each other’s sonic cavities as if it meant everything in the world to them. It should. Brazilian Love Song (Soundbrush) is not only a great jazz album with love song featuring a Brazilian motif, but it is also Roger Davidson‘s way of affirming that torrid love affair with a pianist kiss.
The 18 songs here go back and forth from solo piano pieces to track with a band that feature Paulo Braga (drums), David Finck (bass), Marivaldo Dos Santos (percussion), and Aaron Heick (saxophone). The quintet join forces to color the picture many have only imagined but a select few have seen and experienced for themselves. They are songs about love and romance: physical, sensual, and emotional, all done without ever going overboard. An example of this is “Ritmo das Flores”, where Davidson sounds as if he’s having a conversation with his musicians while flirting with the beauty of the land he speaks of.
This music is very smooth, like a Brazilian, and you will want to explore that smoothness until the first proof of hair comes through.
