Brazilian guitarist Chico Pinheiro creates rich meldings of post bop sounds with native intuitions on this latest album with guest ChrisPotter on sax and his regular team of Tiago Costa/p, Bruno Migotto/b and Edu Ribeiro/dr.
Potter adds extra pep as Pinheiro plays and sings on the peppy Brazilian “Encantado” while the two veer around sharp corners on the upbeat “Long Story Short”. Pinheiro and Costa deliver a handful of gorgeous duets, such as the pretty “Interlude”, a rich “Theme” and the ballet of “Farol”. He gallops to Ribeiro’s canter on a Methenyesque “Up In The Air” and “Vila Madalena” and is crystalline on the delicate yet assertive “City Of Dreams”. Folksy moods are produced on the acoustic and voiced “Estrada Real” with pretty guitar and piano lines forming a crystalline web on the flowing title tune. I’ve seen Pinheiro in numerous formats, and his stylings mix flexibility of ideas with traditional loyalties in a most attractive way.