Jovino Santos Neto
Veja O Som: See The Sound
Adventure Music
www.adventure-music.com

Mike Marshall
An Adventure: 1999-2009
Adventure Music
www.adventure-music.com
By George W. Harris

This label is just one of my favs-it hasn’t put out a clunker yet, and by releasing some new material as well as a retrospective, you can see where the music has been, and where it’s going.

Brazilian pianist Jovinos Santos Neto releases a 2cd set of duets, one recorded in The States, and one in Brazil. Mixing and matching with a variety of artists ranging from David Sanchez/ts, Bill Frisell/g, Anat Cohen/cl and Airto Moreira/perc, Neto creates a wide scoped palate of sounds. His duet with vocalist Gretchen Parlato delivers an agonizingly slow reading of “Insansatez” while “April Child” with trombonist Vittor Santos swerves like a Porsche on the autobahn. Celebratory, passionate and creative, these duets are a rainbow of bright musical colors, and more than keep your interest, and will want you begging for more.

The one disc anthology of mandolin master Mike Marshall (avoid alliteration, always!) does a couple things successfully. More than anything, it reveals how this 8 stringed instrument can capture the essence of South American music. Duets like “Um A Zero” with Andy Narell and “Indifference” with Bela Fleck have a swelter to them that oozes Brazilian tropics, while the quintet readings of “Sarau Para radames” and “Um Abraco Seu Domingos” flow like an ocean breeze. The other salient point is how Marshall can create a sound with other artists that has a link to American Bluegrass and Traditional Irish, Middle Eastern as well as South American Samba. Marshall is a musical doctor without borders as he successfully melds sounds and rhythms from all over the world. A musical travelogue that takes you to many a piazza, souk, or village square. Fascinating rhythms!