COMPOSERS: Pixinguinha
LABELS: Blue Jackel
WORKS: Pixinguinha
PERFORMER: Paulo Moura (saxophones, clarinet);Os Batutas
CATALOGUE NO: BJAC 5019-2 (distr. New Note)
PAULO MOURA’s chorôs performances have a live audience, but as recorded their plodding sustained bass lines fight against the vitality of the layered percussion. That’s a pity because the music is a scrupulous re-creation of the great Pixinguinha’s Os Batutas band from the early 20th century, a southern parallel to early jazz where the players converse rather than jam.
The original band spent time in Paris, and Milhaud fans will know one of the tunes – it’s in Scaramouche – as well as the style pinched for Le boeuf sur le toit when Milhaud was in Brazil. Moura solos rousingly on clarinet.
