Rio de Janeiro Blue

Product description

Reissue of a 2000 recording by vocalist Freddy Cole, who performs a set of Brazilian, Latin and American standards. Tracks include Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” the jazz classic “Invitation,” a Cuban bolero “Delirio,” Brazilian composer Edu Lobo’s “Just to Say Goodbye,” and “Sem Voce,” a tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Personnel: Freddy Cole – (vocals, piano), Eric Alexander – (tenor saxophone), Joe Beck – (guitar), Steve Berrios – (drums, percussion), Curtis Boyd – (drums), Herman Burney – (bass), Jerry Byrd – (guitar), Arturo O’Farrill – (piano), Lou Marini – (alto flute, tenor saxophone), Michael Mossman – (flugelhorn, trumpet), George Mraz – (bass), Ruben Rodriguez – (bass), Angel “Papo” Vazquez – (trombone)

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Freddy Cole is a marvelous singer, combining consummate ease with a lyric and acute sense of melodic and rhythmic phrasing. Whether it’s the lost love of the title song or the reliable romance of Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” Cole’s warm baritone creates the impression that everything he sings has been made up on the spot, as if every lyric is the current sum of his thoughts and experiences. That conversational art is much in evidence in this mix of Brazilian and jazz tunes, extending to the way Cole interacts with his sidemen and they with him. There are two basic groups here, an all-star Latin septet with arrangements by pianist Arturo O’Farrill and Cole’s own working quartet, but there are also several permutations in between. O’Farrill’s work is tailor-made to Cole’s throaty voice, mixing it with contrasting flute and guitar and complementary trombone timbres, the latter provided by Angel “Papa” Vazquez, just one of several superb soloists. Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander adds inventive, hard-swinging tenor to “I Concentrate”; Joe Beck‘s guitars define the delicacy of Jobim’s “Sem Voce,” sung here in the original Portuguese; and O’Farrill’s piano is a dancing delight whenever it comes to the fore. Cole’s own spare piano is almost as effective as his voice, a compellingly understated force on “Wild Is Love” and “There, I’ve Said It Again.” –Stuart Broomer