Claudio Roditi
Simpatico
Resonance Records
www.Resonancerecords.org
By George W. Harris

Last year, Brazilian trumpeter/flugelhorn player Claudio Roditi
deservedly got a Grammy nomination for his energetic and thrilling
Brazilliance. His encore performance on Resonance Records, Simpataico
shows that Roditi’s on a creative roll. In fact, this time around, he’s
composed all of the material, which delivered into the hands of guys
like Romero Lubambo/g, Helio Alves/p, John Lee/b, and Duduka da
Fonseca/dr, makes for a Brazilian feast. Roditi’s warm sound is one of
the things that just draws you into songs like the Maiden Voyage-like
feel of “Spring Samba” or the bouncy “Slammin’.”Trombonist Michael
Dease joins the front line for a handful of songs like the srutting
“Blues For Ronni” Roditi’s gentle and graceful horn pirourets with
Lubambo’s elastic strings on the parlaying samba “How Intensitive” and
the delicate “Vida Nova” while “Alberto and Daisy” display their
ability to sizzle like a fresh kabob. Pointing to a hopefully future
direction, Roditi brings back memories of the classic “Clifford Brown
with Strings” with his clear yet vulnerable horn surrounded by gracious
orchestral framework. If you want to know what a horn can sound like,
look no further.