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Tania Maria, piano, synthesizer, vocal; Luiz Augusto Cavani, drums; Carlos Werneck, bass guitar; Mestre Carneiro, percussion.
A spiky, punchy, dynamic lady this - and all in Portuguese. The Blue Note Jazz Club gives that 'live' feel to the performance and you can smell the rain forests.
Tania is an accomplished artist, assured in her style and offers tension in what she does - probably because you are not sure what is going to happen next. "I do what I like," she says, "music in Brazil is in the air you breathe." She sets off on a number not quite knowing where it will lead her - scatting among the straight vocals when the mood takes; her rhythm section, superb professionals, never let her down. The whole will occasionally break into a full scale rave before settling back into a more subdued hue.
In "Funky Tamborim" Tania fires into her vocals - on this one she claims never to give the same performance twice - she also plays the synthesizer in much the same way as she sings. A quieter episode is taken in "Quase," Tania offers a decent Jazz accompaniment to her singing and "Bom Bom Bom Tchi Tchi Tchi" has a superb vibrant rhythm. I enjoyed the unison duet between voice and one-fingered piano. "Valeu" produces an excellent piano opening with quietly placed rhythm that is quite atmospheric - a softer number. "Florzinha" is sung with style - the rhythm section electric - the audience joined in and clearly enjoyed it.
Your feet won't keep still to this disc. This is music to dance to when you have had a few drinks; then the embarrassment of how to dance to it becomes meaningless. I bet she needed a shower after that performance - we did.
by Ferdinand Maylin
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