Live Review: Leny Andrade

BIRDLAND
August 13, 2009


I don't know much about Brazilian jazz, but I had the impression that Leny Andrade is it. I caught her at Birdland on the recommendation of her pianist, Brazilian expert Cliff Korman, who kindly put me on the guest list. Otherwise I must say she wouldn't be on my screen, but she is now.

The language is Andrade's instrument. She takes full advantage of the guttural, earthy sounds of Portuguese (at least, that I hear in it) to elide, stretch, kajole, push and pull the pulse, as all great jazz singers do. Her scat singing is very rhythmic: no virtuosic swoops, like Ella, just swinging to the beat.

She chose the Portuguese language version of familiar Jobim tunes, like "Wave", "So Nice", "Girl from Ipanema" and "Corcovado", as well as Lusitanified versions of jazz standards like "Bluesette" and "Night in Tunisia." I believe this was a means of drawing in and warming up a North American crowd. Quiet at first, they clearly needed it, but the strategy worked.

Chiding New Yorkers for working too hard, exuding devilish fun, Andrade's flamboyantly Latin personality was on display (or at least that was the mask she chose to put on for us). Like Louis, her personality is one with her music.