(Bop, Latin Jazz) Paulo Morello with Lula Galvao, Dudu Penz & Mauro Martins - Sambop - 2018, MP3, 320 kbps

Guitarist Paulo Morello and his three equally talented co-musicians merge jazzy bop and the variety of rhythms, forms and moods of Brazilian music into something new and beautiful. Paulo Morello has put together an exquisite band for 'Sambop', Lula Galvão (born 1962), is the star guest from Brazil on the acoustic guitar and one of the masters of his profession, who has played with Caetano Veloso, Rosa Passos, Ivan Lins and Guinga. The rhythmic drive is provided by Eduardo "Dudu" Penz on electric bass and Mauro Martins on drums - two Brazilians living in Switzerland, for Paulo Morello "the best Brazilian rhythm section in all of Europe".
"A guy with an L5 in love with jazz and Brazilian music." That was Paulo Morello's self-characterization for a journalist some years ago. Equally concise and straight forward is the title of his latest album. Sambop is a fusion of two terms - the latter associating the core style of modern jazz, while the first alludes to the most important form and the most influential rhythm of Brazilian music - standing for the musical and artistic concept of the present album: the encounter of Samba and Bop, or rather: Morello and his three musical peers merging Bop jazz and the diversity of rhythms, forms, and voices of Brazilian music into a whole, into something new and beautiful, as if Samba and Choro had always been played on the semiacoustic jazz guitar; or as if Duke Ellington had first designed his "I'm Just a Lucky So and So" as a funky Baião". If they choose a jazz standard it becomes "brazilianized", and if they decide in favor of a Choro like "Nosso Amigo Esmé" Morello's soloing comes out to be just as jazzy and bop-style, as if Brazilian Choros have always been a part of the jazz repertoires and influences of role models like Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Pat Martino. Morello and his fellow musicians do this considering all those qualities that make Jazz and Brazilian music distinctive and strong: with the springy effortlessness of Brazilian music. With the refinement, intensity, and speed of jazz. And with a naturally virtuoso, joyous, and fluid easiness achievable only by true masters on their instrument.