Sergio Pereira - Swingando (2016)

Easy-going charm – but fluent, attractive, elegant and warm – is the name of the game in Sergio Pereira’s recent album. It’s full of Brazilian soul, sunny, string-rich and verdant. From the lightly propulsive Chega Ai, with its youthful vocal line courtesy of Olivia Foschi and articulate piano styling from Helio Alves one can tell that we are in the best of hands. The mid-paced Let It Out has some beautifully calibrated romantic pianism in the intro, supportive bass and crisp guitar chording with deft drum support – a quartet performance of intimacy and warmth. Claudia Villela takes the vocal honours in My Girls, in which Alves once more provides sterling support – what a lovely player he is – and Pereira’s acoustic guitar provides just the right weight and range of colours.

There are some vampy and bluesy elements in Leblon, though this isn’t – for me at least - one of the stronger tracks. The faster tempo of Ela drives the swing in a most delightful way, with Pereira’s on-the-beat guitar solo voiced with the most precise articulation imaginable. For the final track the leader dusts down his electric guitar – its only undertaking on the album – and with Alves once more providing crisp support, this unpretentious opus reaches a fine conclusion.

There’s nothing grandstanding or groundbreaking here but you will hear plenty of instrumental finesse and suggestive Brazilian colour. With three vocalists, three different drummers and two bassists – they don’t all play at the same time – you are assured of a constant supply chain of elegant instrumentalists and singers too. And atop everything are the splendid Pereira and – a true confrere – the estimable Alves.~Jonathan Woolf

Sergio Pereira (acoustic and electric guitar, voice): Helio Alves (piano): Nilson Matta (bass): Mauricio Zottarelli (drums): Duduka Da Fonseca (drums): Marcus Teixeira (guitar): Itaiguara Brandao (bass): Claudia Villela (voice): Olivia Foschi (voice): Candida Borges (voice): Osmario Marinho (drums): Felipe Fidelis (bass): Felipe Silveira (keyboard)