Live Brazil: “Blame It On Rio”: with Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto, and The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl

By Don Heckman

It wasn’t exactly Carnival time Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl, but the season’s Fireworks Finale program had all the rhythm, song and spirit of Brazil’s irrepressible Mardi Gras celebrations.

It began on a high note, with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, performing a collection of works with various Brazilian connections.  Ary Baroso’s familiar “Aquarela Do Brasil” — perhaps the oldest Braziian song universally known in this country; a lovely medley of songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim, beautifully arranged by Dick Hazard; “Amazon Journey: by Matt Naughtin — long on atmosphere, less intriguing musically; and — apparently because it is a popular work in Brazil — John Barry’s theme from Somewhere In Time, an odd inclusion at best.

The first of the evening’s two Brazilian performers had a familiar name. Bebel Gilberto is the daughter of Joao Gilberto, the bossa nova master, and singer Miucha Buarque.  But she has thoroughly established herself as a major star in her own right, and she paced the Bowl stage with the sort of diva confidence, spirited vocalizing and sensual dance moves that were rarely present in a previous performance at the venue in 1991.  She was especially appealing in an effervescent rendering of the Carmen Miranda classic, “Chica Chica Boom.”

Brazilian singer/songwriter/actor Seu Jorge has made the difficult trip from the favelas to high successes in music and film.  His dark, growly voice is a surprisingly pliable instrument, and his capacity to inject meaning into his musical phrases produces an emotional impact that transcends language.  One of the most intriguing entries in a program reaching from Braziian funk rhythms to lyrical balladry was his version of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars” from the album, The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions, a fascinating reinvention of the Bowie songbook.

But it remained — predictably — for the fireworks finale to ultimately steal the show.  Underscored by the HBO performing “A Carmen (Miranda) Fantasy,” the spectacular pyrotechnics soared into the sky as a colorful troupe of feathered and sequined dancers, accompanied by gyrating capoeira artists, paraded across the stage.  Then, as though all that wasn’t enough, Gilberto and Jorge returned for a delightful take on Gilberto Gil’s jaunty “Bananeira” — a perfect coda to an entertaining evening.

“Blame It On Rio” with Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra continues at the Hollywood Bowl through Sunday, Sept. 13.

Live: Milton Nascimento and the Jobim Trio

by Don Heckman

Milton Nascimento celebrated his 66th birthday a few days before he performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall Wednesday night.  And there was still a trace of celebratory spirit in his appearance with the Jobim Trio.

Milton Nascimento, Paulo Braga, Paulo Jobim and Daniel Jobim

The program, one of a string of bookings across the country, supported his recently released CD, “Novas Bossas,” recorded with the Jobim trio.   Actually, the Trio was a quartet for this event, consisting of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s son Paulo playing guitar, his grandson Daniel playing piano, with bassist Rodrigo Villa and drummer Paulo Braga.  But the clear focus of the evening centered around the same goal suggested by the CD title — a new approach to bossa nova.

Understandably, given Antonio Carlos Jobim’s preeminence as the composer of the majority of the Great Brazilan Bossa Nova Book, most of the program traced to his catalog, with the addition of a few Nascimento tunes, A Dorival Caymmi song and an appealing new number by Daniel Jobim.  It’s hard to go wrong with chestnuts as familiar, and as tasty, as “Agua de Marco,” “The Girl From Ipanema,” “Inutil Paisagem” and “Samba Do Avaio.”  But it was also not what one might call a particularly intriguing new view of bossa nova.

At its best, Nascimento’s emotion-drenched voice, with its rich bottom and soaring falsetto high notes, has always been one of the glories of Brazilian music.  But, for this performance at least, it occasionally seemed to have lost its way, drifting into byways of uncertain pitch, and too rarely displaying the warm, charismatic qualities that are central to his performance style.  Also receding too far into the background — his capacity to transform a song into his own musical image.  Maybe the birthday celebration lasted a little too long.

The backing of the Jobim trio (quartet) was first rate.  But one could argue that its tendency to remain in a classic bossa nova groove tended to further diminish the “Nova Bossa” aspects of the evening.  Even so, Daniel Jobim’s piano work and his occasional vocalizing suggested that the Jobim lineage is strong.  And Braga’s playing — as always — was a model of beautifully articulate drumming.

Photo by Leonardo Siqueria