4.0 out of 5 stars
New spin on an old sound, January 1, 2005
This review is from: Teu Nome, Pixinguinha (Audio CD)
One of the great architects of Brazilian popular music, Alfredo Da Rocha Viana Filho, better known as Pixinguinha, was a vituoso flautist and pianist who helped define the improvisational "choro" style of the early 20th Century. Pixinguinha was something like the Brazilian equivalent of Louis Armstrong, a multitalented performer who both helped define and later embodied an entire musical genre.
This is an unusual update on Pixinguinha's music... The old master's spritely instrumental tunes are given new lyrics, written by the likes of Gastao Vianna, Paulo Cesar Pinheiro and Vinicius De Moraes; some of the lyrics are of an earlier vintage, collaborations between Pixinguinha and contemporaries like Joao de Barro and Cicero de Almeida. Youthful vocalist Vianna approaches this collection of tunes through the filter of slick, modern MPB, turning the old bouncy choroes into ornate pop ballads. Some tracks retain the upbeat feel of the originals, but others are much slower and more reflective. Definitely a different take on this old material, but fans along both sides of the spectrum will probably be won over by this disc.
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