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Oscar Castro-Neves: Live at Blue Note Tokyo

  Tobias Fischer

Brazilian jazz-guitarist Castro-Neves played seven nights at this world-famous club, the highlights of which are captured here as something of an advanced primer on bossa nova, introduced by way of standards such as "Ponteio" (playfully duetted by Castro-Neves and one-time Pat Metheny singer Leila Pinheiro, whose unadorned soprano gets the brunt of the vocal work here).

Liner notes from Castro-Neves pronounce a lucky similarity between Japanese and Brazilian sounds, but if any ethnicity other than Brazilian jumped out at me it was a sort of African vibe (on the hypnotic rambling toasts of Jobim's "Waters of March" and the animatedly percussive "Caninana," which includes an extended display of throat-singing).

A pleasant, exotic getaway from one of bossa nova's top figures.

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Oscar Castro-Neves
Homepage: Zoho Records