CHORO CHORO AT HIDDEN ROOMS CAMBRIDGE JAZZ
Huw Warren leader pianist composer and leader of the Choro Choro Choro Quartet
The Choro Choro Choro Quartet changed my musical world in one great gig. Their brilliant Brazilian jazz showcases the remarkable appeal of a scandalously little- known genre. And it is a great discovery.. Impresario Huw Warren is a superb pianist, an inspiring player who takes audiences across Britain into a new world of rhythm and melody. There is surprising syncopation interspersed with many dreamy melodic interludes. Huw’s quartet features the gorgeous alto flute tones of Tori Freestone , a mistress of the art - “Feel free to applaud solos,” pleaded Huw after a couple of silently received solos “ the music might be Brazilian but it’s still jazz!“ It certainly qualifies, it swings, it has rhythm and counterpoint , , but still there’s a wonderful otherness about it. Particularly from Adriano Adewale on percussion. Drums he did with wide style and too much applause once we had woken up the altered sequence in this new-for-most-of-us mode. But he added an exotic range of other percussive noises. My companion identified wooshing washboard audio, whilstles horns bells as well as yelps and cries. With flutey squeaks, it suddenly became the Amazon rain forest, mingled with the clatter and backdrop of a Buenos Aires street. And Bassist Yuri Goloubev lent an essential Latin foundation of dance swing to this so talented ensemble
What is known about Brazil’s long tradition of jazz music making is mostly wrong. It is commonly compared with American jazz and Brazil announced at the New Orleans of Latin America. But the subtle sophistication of these complex forms belies that parallel . Huw is already well known as a versatile musician and composer, he has sponsored this music with verve, he has more or less re-invented the genre.
Some of the great composers of Brazilian jazz reach back to 1885. One dashingly comlex composition was written by a woman, Chico Gonzaga. Where in the world would you find musical modernism combined with such spirit and melody from that era ? And from a girl? There were other creations Huw Warren has unearthed from that remote date. For speed vitality and confidence they match any Choro composition of today. Ernesto Nazareth, Hermeto Pascoal are both favourites of Huw’s along with more well known ( to me anyway) João Gilberto. Aside a devotion to Bach these artists are favourites of Huw’s Welsh genius for music and he reprises their work alongside his own homages, within the quartet’s performances. Whimsical and fun ,their final number was about a football match – a passionate affair in Brazil. Throughout you hear the excitement of the match ( which Brazil won , one zero,) So like much of the Choro canon, each turn in the tale is reflected as in a story, the musical phrases echo the events. The final triumphant goal is featured as a triumphant finish.
And how well this relaxed fun fabulous group fitted the Hidden Rooms. After a nomadic years- long exile, Cambridge Modern Jazz has definitively reached the Promised Land in this hip and happy underground venue on Jesus Lane . It is cool classy and has a brilliant bar. Expert waiters weave discreetly through the throng and bring drinks to your seat. Tricky to organise fun to run, the Team do a fabuluous job to keep the ambience as joyous as the music . And when the music is as fresh and surprising and delightful as Choro ( it’s Shoro actually) that is a feat to be proud of.. Cambridge Modern Jazz embrace a New Year with.a new club and an alluring list of future performers. It's not every day you make a jazz discovery
