Brasil

When 30-year-old jazz guitarist Yotam Silberstein was growing up in Israel in the 1980s, the country experienced a fad for Brazilian music, and his appreciation for it was heightened during his later residence in New York, where various Latin influences in jazz have always been strong. All of this has helped lead to Yotam devoting his fourth solo album to a Brazilian tribute. To do so, he enlisted an appropriate band, consisting of pianist David Feldman from Rio de Janeiro, bassist John Lee, and Brazilian drummer/percussionist Vanderlei Pereira. This is the quartet heard on the album's first two tracks, Carlos Lyra's "Influência do Jazz" (Influence of Jazz) and Jacob Do Bandolim's "Doce de Coco" (Sweet Coconut), which allows more space particularly for Feldman to solo, although Pereira gets his most extensive showcase in the opener and Lee comes to the fore during "Doce de Coco." Following these scene-setters, Yotam begins to mix in guest performers on Antonio Carlos Jobim's romantically melancholy "Falando de Amour" (Words of Love), in which Roy Hargrove's flügelhorn and Sharel Cassity's flute and clarinet are introduced. The light bossa nova "Saudade da Bahia" (Missing Bahia) by Dori Caymmi finds Paquito d'Rivera on clarinet, and Hargrove returns for the sole Yotam original, the slow, melodic "Nocturno," on which the horn and the guitar blend to play the tune, with another Brazilian, Toninho Horta, providing acoustic guitar. Jobim and Chico Buarque's "Piano na Mangueira" provides an opportunity for Pereira to show off his percussion talents, and the last of the Brazilian guest musicians makes his appearance on Ronaldo Bôscoli and Roberto Menescal's "O Barquinho" (My Little Boat), which is led by trumpeter Claudio Roditi. The final tracks on the album range in tempo from slow to slower, allowing for much expressive playing, particularly by the leader, who has already proven his ability to play fast earlier on the disc. Yotam closes things out with Caymmi's "Samba da Minha Terra" (Samba of My Country), which is a duet between him and Horta, an electric/acoustic guitar contrast that ends the album delicately. Despite having handed over the spotlight to some major Latin players, the young Israeli guitarist never seems overmatched or insecure, always keeping up and usually taking the lead on a well-realized genre excursion.