Pra Você by Dexter Payne Quartet +1

Rated 4 stars by Scott Yanow in DownBeat. See Tom McDermott's review in OffBeat below.

Pra Você (say "pra vo SAY") is a collection of tunes well known in Brazil, representing two distinct genre, chorinho (shoo RIN yo) and baião (by YAON)

ALMA BRASILEIRA (Brazilian soul) is a classic choro-samba by Zeca Freitas, composer and band/orchestra leader from Pernambuco in the north-east of Brazil. We learned it from Mitchell Long.
CHORINHO PRA VOCÊ (Chorinho for you) is a gafieira or dancehall standard by Severino Araújo, famous clarinetist, played here in the style of Paulo Moura.
NO WOLF AT THE DOOR is an original composition by Dexter Payne and Gaudencio Thiago de Mello, originally recorded by them on "Another Feeling" (Dexofon).
SAMPA (short for São Paulo) by Caetano Veloso is one of the best known, and most loved songs in Brazil.
DOCE DE COCO (coconut candy) is standard choro by one of it's iconic composers, Jacob de Bandolim, made famous in North America by David Grisman and later by YoYo Ma.
PLAYGROUND is a baião by brilliant contemporary Brazilian guitarist, Nelson Faria.
ASSANHADO (strutting/showing off) is another by Jacob de Bandolim, arranged here by Bill Kopper.
CONVERSA DE BOTEQUIM (conversation in a coffee shop) is by another prolific composer, Noel Rosa, author of "Bahia" and "Aquarella do Brasil" (known in north america as "Brazil"). Kopper arranged this piece for the band, Ginga, and Payne said "Let's use the bridge from your arrangement with the traditional verse." It worked!
LEMBREI DO CEARÁ (I remember Ceará) is an homage to the state of Ceará by Marcelo Caldi. Learned from Marcelo Bernardes' "Choro na Feira". This song actually represents music of the northeast in at least two distinct rhythms, xote & baião. The music of the northeast is generally categorized "Forro" (say "fo HO", literally "for all").





This set, basically recorded in two afternoons, is the product of years of study and playing together. Enjoy!

PRESS:

It's like a fever when you start listening to this album—the way summer gets in the brain. By the time you get to the final song, "Lembrei do Ceara," you'll be contemplating a plane ticket to the Southern hemisphere.
- Erika Fredrickson (Missoula Independent 4-27-14)

Dexter Payne is a clarinetist from Boulder, Colorado, and his Prá Você is proof that Brazilian music can flourish in the most unlikely places. There are no Brazilians on this disc, though the pianist is a florid Venezuelan.

That said, everyone, gringos included, plays splendidly here. The disc is nicely divided between choros from Rio de Janeiro and forró,baiaos and xotes from the northeast, plus sambas from Rio and elsewhere. Some choros, like “Chorinho Pra Você” and the ravishing “Doce de Coco” are played straight, while “Assanhado” receives a whimsical “Choro Novo” treatment that would make avant-garde choro players in Brazil smile.

Sambas from Caetano Veloso (“Sampa”) and Noel Rosa (“Conversa de Botequim”) are well-done, and special kudos must go to guitarist Bill Kopper and his beautiful tone and the nifty handiwork of accordionist Dave Willey.

Quite the refreshing disc, one that will help tide me over until I can get back to that enchanted country.
- Tom McDermott (OffBeat Magazine 5-1-14):

and from composer of track 7, Playground, Nelson Faria (on youtube)"Congratulations!"

Dexter Payne has performed from Tijuana to Paris, and from Montreal to Buenos Aires, and everywhere in between. #8 clarinetist in Downbeat Readers Poll (2004 & '06) and 2011 International Blues Challenge winner, Payne has made himself at home in "musica brasileira tradicional" playing chorinho, baião and samba, beginning in the mid 90s when he went on a 2 1/2 yr walk-about, playing with bands and artists from Tijuana to Buenos Aires and focusing in Brazil for 10 months, where he recorded with Beth Carvalho and met and recorded with the late Gaudencio Thiago de Mello. Over the last few years he has played and coproduced 4 Brazilian CDs with the late grammy-nominated de Mello in New York. (Their collaboration, "No Wolf" appears again here.)

Over time, he has assembled an extremely compatible group of very talented players. Raoul Rossiter and Bill Kopper are at the heart of pagode & jazz band Ginga Grande. Dave Willey leads and composes for Hamster Theatre (Cuniaform Records) and Victor Mestas Pérez is highly respected in his native Caracas, Venezuela, with extensive recording credits there including a Latin Grammy winning CD. All are in demand session players who know the music and make it their own.

Dexter Payne went to Latin America for a year and stayed for almost 3. But Brazil, he never left. Ranking in Downbeat Readers Poll twice and member of International Blues Challenge winners Lionel Young Band, he finds his muse in a variety of genres. But Brazil is where he hangs his hat. Check out the group with his name on it. WIth Bill Kopper, Dave Willey, Victor Mestas Pérez, Raoul Rossiter.

dexterpayne.com
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