The sandy beaches and funky streets of Sao Paolo….Musical director and trombonist Jorginho Neto leads a team of Sidmar Viera/tp, Robson Couto/b, Gustav Bugni/p, Vitor Cabral/dr, Alexandre Mihanovich/g and Thiago ALves/b trough some funky and snappy originals. Neto’s trombone delivers an “Amazing Grace” background to a speech by Martin Luther King to get people in the mood. Some hip bas lines produce a hip CTI feel on the sou lful “Harlem” and laid back “On the Road” while spacey keyboards conjure up images of Herbie Hancock on the peppy “Mr. Dave” and hip hopping “777” before the album closes with a gospel themed “Lord.” Fingers snap and toes tap throughout.
Carol Albert does bass programming, lush keyboards and lead singing on this collection of smooth Brazilian moods with dreamy support and framework. Sleek sax and flute from Sam Skelton make for gentle R&B on “Awakening” and “On My Way “ as well as the lithe title track. Albert’s piano trickles on “Never Thought It Would Be This Way” while she wisps through a breezy “Mas Que Nada” and delivers a mist of a vocal on her tribute to Al Jarreau on “One Way.” As smooth as a sandy beach at Ipanema.