Brazil All-Stars

Founded by Brazilian producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro in the early 2000s, the Brazil-All Stars are a collective of Brazilian jazz and pop artists, some are instrumentalists, and some are vocalists. Writer Douglas Payne, who provided the liner notes for the Brazil All-Stars' debut album, Rio Strut, compared them to the fusion-oriented Fuse One collective of the early '80s, and that's a pretty apt comparison. Like Fuse One, the Brazil All-Stars don't use the same people on all of their recordings; the personnel varies from one song to the next. But unlike Fuse One, the Brazil All-Stars are dominated by Brazilian singers and musicians, some of whom are based in Rio de Janeiro. Arguably, Rio is the collective's primary location, although some participants live in other parts of Brazil, as well as in the United States. Participant Claudio Roditi, for example, is a big-toned jazz trumpeter who has been based in New York since the early '70s but is originally from Rio. And there is no law stating that the Brazil All-Stars are obligated to record in Brazil exclusively; Rio Strut was recorded in Rio as well as in Piermont, New York. The first session for Rio Strut got underway in January 2001, and in February 2002, DeSouteiro finished producing the album. Ordinarily, it wouldn't take DeSouteiro 13 months to produce an album, but because the collective boasts a lot of well-known artists -- most of whom are extremely busy -- it would have been difficult to unite all of them in the same studio on the same day. Thus, DeSouteiro produced Rio Strut gradually over a 13-month period, using different studios and several different engineers along the way. In addition to trumpeter Roditi, members of the Brazil All Stars have included Dom Um Romão (drums, percussion), Eumir Deodato (keyboards), Paula Faour (keyboards), singer Ithamara Koorax (vocals), Palmyra (vocals), João Donato (acoustic piano), Thiago de Mello (percussion, vocals), Dino Rangel (electric guitar), Aroldo Macedo (electric guitar), Levita (acoustic guitar), Pingarilho (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica), Jorge Pescara (electric bass, acoustic bass), and Laudir De Oliveira (percussion). Although DeSouteiro produced Rio Strut for his own Jazz Station label, the CD was released by Milestone/Fantasy in the U.S. in July 2002. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi