The Brazilian singer-songwriter-guitarist-percussionist Vinicius Cantuária appeared at Jazz Standard with his quintet: Helio Alves on piano, Paul Socolow on bass, Adriano Santos on drums and Dende on percussion. On his albums and in live performances, Cantuária works with a mix of Brazilian and American jazz artists. He has collaborated with Bill Frisell, Arto Lindsay, and Brad Mehldau, among others. At his show, he brought out as a guest Jesse Harris, the singer-guitarist and composer of such hits as Norah Jones’ “Come Away with Me.”
Though Cantuaria has been living in New York since the 1990’s, he still performs all his songs in Portuguese. He once said that he became more Brazilian when he moved away from his homeland. (There are many other examples of this phenomenon, for example, James Joyce, who wrote about Dublin after he moved to Switzerland.). The songs Cantuaria performed could be described as high-class bossa nova with a downtown New York twist. He paid tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim by performing an almost whispered version of “Insensatez” (“How Insensitive”). At the recent show, Cantuaria’s singing and the instrumentals were soothing. Among the other members of the group, the standout was pianist Alves.
Coming to the Jazz Standard from October 10th through 13th, will be jazz singer Tierney Sutton, celebrating the release of her terrific new album, “After Blue: the Joni Mitchell Project.” Sutton is one of those jazz artists who thinks deeply about her material and comes up with a fresh approach to each songs. Here, she works with different backings, some with the rich sound of the Turtle Island String Quartet as arranged by first violinist David Balakrishnan. These make for haunting renditions of “Blue” and “Little Green.”
She also feels comfortable singing with one solo instrument and she delivers a playful version of the satiric “Big Yellow Taxi” with drummer Ralph Humphrey as well as duos with Larry Goldings playing piano on “Court and Spark” and “Woodstock.” On the latter, she surpasses Mitchell’s wobbly original as well as Crosby, Stills and Nash’s bubblegum hit rendition. Goldings switches to Hammond B3 organ on “Be Cool,” with Al Jarreau singing along with Sutton. She closes the disc with a clever combination of the pop standard “April in Paris” and Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris,” again with the superlative support of Goldings.
At the Jazz Standard engagement, Sutton will be accompanied by Mitch Forman on Hammond B3 organ and piano, Janek Gwizdala on bass and Peter Erskine on drums. I have seen Sutton perform live and she is just as dazzling (and also charming) in person as on recordings.
