Ron Rieder - Latin Jazz Sessions (2024)

Tracklist

01. Un Coco Loco
02. The Samba Moon
03. Mambo Jumbo
04. Samba Feliz
05. St John
06. Spring Serenade
07. Pescado
08. Gardenias
09. From Dawn to Dusk
10. Capitol Mayhem

Better known as a pianist, Ron Rieder makes his debut as a composer with a set of 10 works on the strikingly programmed recording Latin Jazz Sessions that runs just ten minutes short of an hour. On each of the works, Mr Rieder gives us a chance to hear the proverbial l’heure exquise in the wider context of Brasilian samba and bossa nova that frames the harmonic and rhythmic conceptions in each of his works, which is quite captivating from end to end.

Mr Reider – together with a rather good complement of musicians – communicates tangible pleasure in his material. There is wit and joie de vivre in such charts as Samba Feliz and Capitol Mayhem, as well as pride as well as wonder in the calypso St John and lofty nobility in Gardenias. Moreover, Mr Reider’s composer’s voice is evenly produced throughout the set. He has not only captured the mood of Brasilian music, but also its often-intricate pulse. This makes the complete set quite enthralling.

To achieve this distinction, it is no secret that Mr Reider would have to arm himself with a powerful rhythm section. In that regard, he has done well to bring into his employ the pianist Alain Mallet, who drags into his wake two accomplished bassists in the form of Gerson Lazo-Quiroga and Oscar Stagnaro. The celebrated drummer Mark Walker delivers the rhythmic coup-d’etat on every occasion with his wonderful grasp of Brasilian musical idioms.

Additionally, steel pans player, Ron Reid times his pulsations to perfection on St John and Capitol Mayhem [although his appearance on the latter is somewhat muted]. Moreover, the percussionist Ricardo Monzón proves himself an attractive accompanist and he consistently paints wondrous percussion colours around the miraculous drumming of Mr Walker. The overall impact of that team is one redolent of refined sonic colour and taste.

The contributions of flutist Fernando Brandão, tenor saxophonist Mike Tucker and guitarists Claudio Ragazzi is no less impressive. Together this trio contributes to the melodic and the harmonic heft as if with feather-light ease. But make no mistake this is Mr Reider’s album, one in which, as composer, he shows masterly command of the harmonic and rhythmic idiom of Brasilian music in the luminous interweaving of voices and occasional solo flights.