For those unaware, when Livio Almeida arrived on the New York jazz scene a few years back, we were all put on notice. There’s a new Brazilian tenor saxophonist who can shred. His lights-out playing and performances undoubtedly created a stir among fellow artists and aficionados.

Almeida was quickly absorbed into Arturo O’Farrill’s musical crew. This is how even more began to realize and recognize the Brazilian’s incredible prowess, as he began to tour with Arturo in several formations. Almeida’s 2016 CD release Action and Reaction, produced by O’Farrill, received enthusiastic reviews and left listeners wanting more.

Brasília Sessions isn’t just more. It’s one of the most remarkable Brazilian jazz albums in recent memory. It showcases Almeida as a composer, arranger, soloist, bandleader, and conceptual artist. One has come to expect stunning playing on an Almeida project, but the start-to-finish sonics of this album reveal his meticulous attention to detail. We hear ambient soundscapes, timbral contrast, legato lines, and feel-good rhythms.

“This music is deeply rooted in my Brazilian tradition,” Almeida explains. “It’s a synthesis of my cultural experience as a Brazilian immigrant in New York.”

Recorded in Brasília, his hometown and Brazil’s capital, the album is indeed a full circle for the maestro. Joining him are tremendous artists Misael Silvestre (keys), Daniel Castro (bass), Pedro Almeida (drums).

1. SAMBASUS (5:15)
2. PARTIDO CERRADO (5:02)
3. BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA (6:27)
4. FOLHAS SECAS (8:31)
5. ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) (7:35)
6. DITMAS AVENUE (7:39)
7. UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair) (6:54)
8. Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q) (5:57)

This majestically rhythmic and thoroughly melodic new recording opens on the atmospherically-charged, old school vinyl-hued SAMBASUS and the genuine foot-tapper PARTIDO CERRADO and then brings us the free flowing BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA, and the lushly laid back FOLHAS SECAS (and which was composed by Nelson Cavaquinho, an acclaimed twentieth-century singer).

Along next is the playfully flirtatious ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) and the impassioned DITMAS AVENUE (named after the street where Almeida lives in Brooklyn), the album rounding out on the unblushingly stoic UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair), closing on the melodically grandiose Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q).

Musicians:
Livio Almeida - tenor saxophone, compositions and arrangements
Misael Silvestre - keys
Daniel Castro - bass
Pedro Almeida - drums

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