Paquito D’Rivera
Brazilian Dreams
Telarc / Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild
Captain Steubing, you’re wanted on the Lido Deck.
Cuban-born alto saxophonist/clarinetist, Paquito D’Rivera has transformed his love of Brazilian Bossa Nova into the perfect Love Boat soundtrack. This is all tropical breezes and malaria-infected amore covered lovingly with a translucent gloss cheesier than feathered hair and butterfly collars. At any minute I was expecting David Birney, Gary Collins, or Jimmie Walker to pop out of the disc to lay the Mack down.
The musicians here, while talented, have drained the life out of the music to go for that swinging arthritic set. The vocal group, New York Voices, who sing throughout the project, put the sourdough into the Manhattan Transfer’s Wonder Bread. It feels as though they got their musical training at Little Miss Manners’ Finishing School. Their diction is just so nice and neat and antiseptic. But everything here seems sanitized and plastic – like a funeral home. Just one synthesizer away from Muzak, Brazilian Dreams can do nothing but bore those of us who are too young to remember where we were when Kennedy was shot.
Telarc: http://www.telarc.com • Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild: http://www.mcgjazz.org
