Arguably the best living clarinetist, Eddie Daniels displays a new color of his multi-prismed career on this latest album.
For the past few years, he has released a number of “live” albums, usually with Tom Ranier or Roger Kellaway, and focusing on his famed licorice stick with an occasional foray into his warm tenor sax. This time around, he explores unfamiliar charts in the songbook of famed Brazilian singer/composer Ivan Lins. And, while he has produced some wonderful sounds of South America before, as on his Egberto Gismonti tribute , he’s going into unfamiliar charts with pop star veteran Lins, and for this occasion he dug out his old flute, built up his chops and sounds like he was born to play it for a sumptuous amount of songs of this gorgeous album.
He mixes once again with the Harlem String Quartet for almost all of the pieces, and mixes and matches with some of the best pianists around in Josh Nelson, Dave Grusin, Bob James and Kuno Schmid along with bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli to create a album that feels like an entire suite of cheerful colors.
The strings are used as a velvety supporting cast, sort of like the best of baseball umpires that are appreciated but not noticed, as Daniels’ rich flute bounces on the upbeat “A Voz Do Povo” and the ELO-ish “DiAquilo Que Eu Sei” and suavely bops on “Dinorah, Dinorah.” His tenor sax is breathy and sensuous with Schmid on “Cantor Da Noite” and luminous with the strings on “Maos de Afeto”. His molton gold sound on the clarinet is melancholy on “Lembra”, jaunty on “depos dos Temporais” and parlor room perfect on “Pano de Fundo”. Is it possible to be voted the best instrumentalist in two different categories for one album? Daniels asks that question on this timeless gem, one that is a gleam of happiness during a time of so much anger.