A masterful and authentic Australian premiere Jobim tribute from start to finish.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Sunday 14 June

In the late nineteen fifties when Miles Davis, John Coltrane and others were creating some of the twentieth century’s jazz highpoints (A Kind of Blue, Giant Steps), Brazilian maestro Antonion Carlos “Tom” Jobim was confounding music critics with his distinctively Latin Bossa Nova compositions that were so catchy and sexy that they rapidly became part of the jazz lexicon to the point where popular artists like Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan recorded his work. Yes, The Girl from Ipanema was a smash and might be the epitome of “easy listening”, but it was only one of hundreds of compositions that the prolific Jobim created and in Brazil, there are many songs that are as equally familiar as the ubiquitous ‘girl’.

Collaborators and Jobim devotees, Jones, Rezende, De Vries and Panorama Brazil (musical director and drummer Alister Kerr, flautist Amber Hendry, trombonist Alistair Parsons, pianist Matthew Bowden, and bassist Jorge Ablequerque) presented an Australian premiere Jobim tribute that was masterful, authentic and passionate from start to finish. De Vries and band began with a medley of lesser known tunes featuring de Vries’ virtuosic fingerwork before Rezende took centre stage. Brazilian born (but now living in Wellington) and singing in Brazilian Portugese, Rezende’ s deep husky tone and flawless diction was sensuality personified. Starting with the familiar staccato Samba de Una Nota So (One Note Samba), Rezende then set male pulses racing with beckoning versions of the ballads Ligia and Bonita. Desafinado always gets me dreaming about blue skies and sandy beaches and Rezende’s South American siren call on Eu Sei Que Vou te Amar (I Know that I will Love You) was Richter Scale romantic.

Exit Rezende and after a scintillating performance by the band of Chega da Saudade showcasing de Vries’ world class skills, the enigmatic Vince Jones graced centre stage. He might dance like a dork, dress like a racetrack bookie and twitch slightly Joe Cocker like, but when he opens his mouth, Vince Jones is mesmerising and incisive. His Corocovado (Quiet Nights) was innovative, but I loved his almost tongue in cheek version of Wave, where he deliberately presented the sexy passages as self-parody a la Serge Gainsbourg. Of course, Vince was also at a disadvantage singing in plain English, but he has worshipped Jobim since he was a little boy and the love shone through on How Insensitive and Agua de Beber.

After what had preceded, the joint Rezende/Jones version of The Girl from Ipanema was almost a footnote, but the audience had well and truly melted by then and rejoiced in a treat we may not see the likes of for a long time.