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Track List: Listen

Depois da Chuva - 05:17
Sabor Carioca - 04:18
Rancho Das Nuvens - 04:36
Blues Connotation - 04:23
Obstinado - 06:41
The Peacocks - 06:21
Flying Over Rio - 05:29
Dona Olimpia - 05:42
O Guaraná - 07:32
Melancia - 08:21

Musicians:
Anat Cohen - tenor saxophone, clarinet
Helio Alves - piano
Guilheme Monteiro - guitar
Duduka Da Fonseca - drums

Samba Jazz. Jazz Samba. These two exciting musical forms come together as one in the music of the Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet - uniting North and South (Americas) in a manner which politicians can only dream of. It is less a supportive mixed marriage and more its beautiful mulatto offspring. Since his early days as a drummer in his native Rio de Janeiro, before arriving in New York in 1975, Duduka has been seeking the perfect balance between Jazz and Samba, working to develop the swinging sound that is called SambaJazz. One of the foremost proponents of the genre, he has performed with the best of both worlds, from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto to Joe Henderson and
Kenny Barron. As a member of the cooperatives, Trio da Paz and Brazilian Trio, DaFonseca has contributed much to the propagation of the music that fuses heart and soul of his adopted and birth lands. But it is arguably as the leader of the quintet heard here that he most convincingly demonstrates that ""near perfect balance"" between samba and jazz he has long known could exist.
The Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet was founded by the drummer/leader more than a decade ago, in the spring of 2002, when the popularity of samba jazz was reaching new heights.
Despite the lack of steady work, the group rehearsed regularly and developed its own powerfully personal style, built upon the individual creativity and collective cooperation of its members, saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, pianistHelio Alves and bassist Leonardo Cioglia, each one a respected bandleader and talented
composer in his and her own right.
For this date, the followup to the group's critically acclaimed Samba Jazz In Black &White, Da Fonseca draws upon not only the instrumental prowess of its players, butthe compositional abilities of the many friends he has performed with during hisauspicious career. The opening Depois Da Chuva, penned by pianist Dom Salvador,
was a staple of his quartet with Dick Oatts, Dennis Irwin and Da Fonseca. Sabor Carioca, by saxist Raul Mascarenhas, hails back to the early seventies group Mandengothat he and the drummer were part of. Jobim's Rancho Das Nuvens is one of the greatmaestro's more obscure gems. Cohen's soulful arrangement of jazz master OrnetteColeman's Blues Connotation epitomizes the spirit of samba jazz, an ideal blending ofthe two forms, while the fantastic pianist Haroldo Mauro's Obstinado demonstrates the genres wideranging possibilities.
Duduka first heard The Peacocks, played by its composer Jimmy Rowles at Bradley's, where the New York City jazz musicians congregated. O Guaraná comes from one his oldest friends, pianist Alfredo Cardim, whom he calls ""one of Brazil's great neglectedwriters. ”Da Fonseca's Flying Over Rio is his moving tribute to the beauty of his native
land. Dona Olimpia is from the songbook of Toninho Horta, part of the leader's extended family. Duduka first played the concluding Melancia, by Rique Pantoja, another unsung Brazilian pianist/composer, with the famed percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, godfather to the drummer's daughter Alana. Family. Friends. Samba. Jazz. These are the things dear
to Duduka Da Fonseca. Put them all together and you get the sound of Samba Jazz.
- Russ Musto

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