Fabio Fonseca Trio

If the Hammond organ tends to get the wind knocked out of it by American and European players, there is something about Brazil’s practitioners that emit the warm breeze of the Brazilian beaches and the batucada celebration of its people.Any doubt is instantly allayed with one listen to such legends as Walter Wanderley, Ed Lincoln, Djalma Ferreira or any number of Brazil’s many Hammond journeymen. While the underrated Ely Arcoverde, Celso Murilo, Andre Penazzi, Aresky Aratto, and Zé Maria all come to mind, even part timers like Eumir Deodato, Primo Jr. and João Donato (most notably on Cal Tjader’s soulful albums “The Prophet” and “Solar Heat”) breathe a welcome breath of Brazil into their occasional forays on the Hammond.Add to this pantheon the remarkable Fabio Fonseca. While Mr. Fonseca is probably just a part-time organ grinder, it’s not for lack of anything else to do. Fabio Fonseca is one of Brazil’s busiest and most highly regarded arrangers and session men.Occasionally he finds the time to gather his trio together and record under his own name. On this occasion, he’s focusing his highly individual touch on the Hammond organ, which, incidentally, was acquired years ago from Fonseca’s friend and mentor, Ed Lincoln.Like many contemporary jazz organists – most prominently, John Medeski – Fonseca articulates his Hammond lines with (mostly electric) keyboard counterpoints, which, naturally, personalizes the wonderful whole that is Opus Samba, his debut album for producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro’s progressive JSR (Jazz Station Records) label.Fabio Fonseca was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1961. He began playing piano at eight and while in his teens he balanced studies of classical music with electric experiments on the Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes, MiniMoog and Yamaha organ in the company of other young, local musicians.In 1981, Fonseca was invited by drummer Sergio Naidin to join Nota Vermelha, a band of young locals including future Brazilian pop stars Fernanda Abreu and Leo Jaime. A year later, at the age of 22, Fonseca was invited to play with the funk band, Brylho, whose singer and guitarist, Claudio Zoli, later went on to solo success, with three albums produced by former bandmate Fonseca.Fonseca made his debut as a recording artist in 1985 with his band, Cinema-a-Dois, on the national hit “Não Me Iluda” (RCA). His eponymous solo debut was issued by WEA in 1988, right before he joined Ed Motta’s band, where he wrote what became Motta’s signature hit, the funked-out dance floor classic, “Manuel”.The 1992 album, Tradução Simultânea (Philips), featured much of Fonseca’s best work of the time and was notable for the beautiful “A Mulher de 15 Metros”, with Luiz Melodia sharing vocal duties and the legendary João Donato providing a sumptuous orchestral arrangement and lyrical piano accompaniment.To witness these early triumphs, listeners can sample both “Manuel” and the otherwise unavailable Donato arrangement of “A Mulher de 15 Metros” on the fourth volume of producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro’s spectacular A Trip To Brazil (Universal) series.The gregarious Fabio Fonseca spent the rest of the twentieth century’s last decade establishing his credentials as an influential producer for former bandmate Fernanda Abreu and many others including Marina Lima, Luiz Melodia, Edson Cordeiro, and rapper Gabriel O Pensador. His musical work over the last fifteen years also includes many arrangements and dates on a variety of keyboards for such artists as Lulu Santos, Dom Um Romão, João Donato, Ithamara Koorax, Ed Motta, Seu Jorge, and the rock band Paralamas.Mr. Fonseca has also worked with producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro on many live projects including Dom Um Romão and Ithamara Koorax’s successful 1998 European tour and the sold-out gigs the Fabio Fonseca Trio performed during the JSR Festival at the Sofitel Jazz Bar in May 2006.Here, the Fabio Fonseca Trio follows up its 2002 release, Tudo (Jardim Magnético) with Opus Samba (JSR), a brilliant and beautiful tribute to much that came before it in the Brazilian Hammond tradition and a signpost for the way forward.“All tracks were recorded ‘live’ in the studio,” enthuses the producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro, “in only three days, plus a fourth day for some overdubs. Plus, most of the songs were first takes.“Even though Fabio already had an excellent studio (Magnetic Garden Studios), where we’d recorded together before, we felt that we needed a bigger place to give the musicians a chance to interact with other as if performing live.”That prompted Fonseca to build a new studio in Petropolis, where he and DeSouteiro are neighbors, that provided the opportunity to create a larger-than-life sound which is the hallmark of legendary engineer (and CTI sound man) Rudy Van Gelder.“Fonseca explained to a Swiss architect what we wanted,” the producer continues. “And the studio was built in four months, with a high ceiling and a polycentric arch that proved perfect for the ‘hot and fat’ drum sound a la Bernard Purdie that we considered essential to the album’s atmosphere.”The footprints of many of Fonseca’s Hammond heroes can be heard tapping – or pumping pedals – here, from Walter Wanderley, Charles Earland, the CTI/Kudu albums of Johnny Hammond and more recently, Joey DeFrancesco. But one listen reveals that Fabio Fonseca walks in no one’s shoes.So now take a journey through Brazil’s rich Hammond organ tradition with the Fabio Fonseca Trio and discover the exciting places it’s headed with Opus Samba and, most of all, enjoy…Douglas Payne January 17, 2007 Mr. Douglas Payne is regarded as one of the most important historians in the contemporary jazz scene. He has written liner notes for albums by such artists as Oscar Peterson, Lalo Schifrin, Clare Fischer, Oliver Nelson, Yusef Lateef, Hank Crawford, Lonnie Smith, Cal Tjader and Gary McFarland. He also created a fabulous website about CTI Records at www.dougpayne.com/cti.htm I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4