Renee Rosnes is one of the most dynamic jazz pianists around today. She is an exceptional composer and an exciting player, and has been recording since Gary Thomas's “Seventh Quadrant” (Enja), recorded in April 1987 and released later that year. Best of all, Renee is breathtakingly sophisticated without leaving the listener behind. Not easy to do.
So when she took on her first full album of Brazilian music recently, the work wasn't going to be a tourist-trap adventure with all of the usual ear-candy bossa novas. Instead, Crossing Paths (Smoke) is a journey through a range of beautiful and emotional songs that are largely off the beaten path. Her piano throughout is a warm and compelling force that's tender, supportive and colorful.
Just so you know, I wrote the liner notes to Renee's album, and I only take on such projects when the music knocks me out. This was certainly the case here. From Renee's choice of songs to the musicians she assembled, her excellent taste is on full display on every track.
Here are my first three paragraphs:
The first Brazilian album that inspired Renee Rosnes wasn’t João Gilberto’s "Chega de Saudade" or "Getz/Gilberto." It was music from Wayne Shorter’s "Native Dancer." That’s how the pianist discovered singer-songwriter and guitarist Milton Nascimento, who wrote or co-wrote five of the nine tracks on the saxophonist’s 1975 LP. Renee, of course, would go on to perform pieces from that record once she joined Wayne Shorter’s band in 1988. [Photo above of Renee Rosnes by John Abbott]
But in Renee’s teens, while listening to "Native Dancer," Nascimento’s songs caught her ear, and down the rabbit hole she went, savoring Brazilian composers, musicians, singers and rhythms. After a career of 18 albums as a leader, seven Canadian Juno Awards and serving as pianist-artistic director of the quintet Artemis, "Crossing Paths" marks her first album-wide tribute to a vast range of Brazilian music—a poetic project that for a long time was just an aspiration.
Ever since the samba and bossa nova became global sensations in the early 1960s, Brazil’s romantic, rhythmic music has been catnip for listeners worldwide. But there’s a catch for artists who take on the genre. Choose too many mainstream hits and you risk winding up with a slick, trite album. Choose too many songs with overbearing rhythms and a lack of lyrical content and the allure will be lost. As you can hear on this album, Renee’s sensitivity, taste and skill produced a mix that’s just right.
What makes Crossing Paths so interesting is that it constantly changes from track to track, like the sunlight playing off the water. Violets turn to orange and blues take on green as the hours pass or clouds filter the light. The same is true here with the ever-shifting moods of the Brazilian songs.
The tracks:
- Frevo (Egberto Gismonti)
- Pra Dizer Adeus w/vocalist Edu Lobo (Edu Lobo/Torquato Neto)
- Trilhos Urbanos (Caetano Veloso)
- Canta, Canta Mais w/ vocalist Maucha Adnet (Jobim/de Moraes)
- Casa Forte w/ vocalist Edu Lobo (Edu Lobo)
- Essa Mulher w/ vocalist Joyce Moreno (Joyce Moreno/Ana Terra)
- Amor Até O Fim (Gilberto Gil)
- Estórias da Floresta (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant)
- Caminhos Cruzados w/ vocalist Maucha Adnet (Jobim/Newton Mendonça)
Core players:
- Renee Rosnes (p)
- Shelley Brown (fl)
- Chico Pinheiro (g)
- John Patitucci (b)
- Adam Cruz (d)
- Rogério Boccato (perc)
Renee deserves greater recognition and visibility as an artist, not because she's a woman but because she's exceptional. And exceptional matters.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Renee Rosnes's Crossing Paths (Smoke) here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Trilhos Urbanos...
And here's Pra Dizer Adeus...
Bonus: Here's Renee in 1996 with her own composition, Malaga Moon, with the J.J. Johnson Quintet...