Brazilian Rosewood

Tracklist

Album details

Press reviews

"Freddie Bryant has a taste for diverse musical adventures...he renews his romance with the music of South America, successfully melding his superb classical technique with the explosive rhythms of Brazil...Bryant is joined by a septet of some of New York's hottest young jazz and Latin musicians...together they create a mood of lush, tropical splendor that bridges the gulf between the worlds of jazz, classical and Brazilian music. This is an album to savor by an artist to watch."
- Joel Roberts (www.allaboutjazz.com)

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"Guitarist Freddie Bryant is a rhythmic and melodic sponge. Put him in any musical situation, be it classical, jazz, funk, Senegalese, etc., and he'll tend to become one with the music. So when he was introduced to Brazilian music, he naturally picked it up, although he has no Brazilian blood in him."
- Jason Koransky (www.downbeatjazz.com)

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"Freddie Bryant's CD, Brazilian Rosewood is a brilliant and refreshing blend of jazz and Brazilian music, with strong classical overtones. Bryant's extensive training as a classical guitarist has not gone to waste. He plays acoustic guitar...bringing a sensitive ear and voice to the delicate, sweet tone of his instrument. Freddie is an exceptionally gifted composer and performer, and his creative energies are to be admired and supported...this CD is a gem."
- Jen Alusandra Karpin (The Green Mountain Jazz Messenger)

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"Completely by surprise, I got my six-string fix and then some from Salif Keita and his new Wanda band. It's split evenly between Mali's finest...and a crew of global-minded New Yorkers...This band, capped by Keita's soaring vocals, came on like the polyglot P-Funk of my dreams, with three-way guitars (Keita on acoustic, Kouyate and the Eddie Hazel-ish Freddie Bryant on electric)...This was the most jam-freaky Afro-rock I've heard."
- Village Voice

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"Freddie Bryant is a brilliant young guitarist and composer. I find his music both refreshing and intriguing. He has many things going for him as a guitarist: good tone, good intonation, fine phrasing and great technique. But perhaps the thing that impresses me most about his playing is his unique and very broad harmonic sense which, coupled with a very musical mind, gives his guitar playing and his compositions a personalized sound that is his own. He is reaching for and finding his own music. It is very special. I have really enjoyed listening to the music on this new release by Freddie. My congratulations go to this fine musician and his group."
- Kenny Burrell

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"Guitarist Freddie Bryant delivers buoyant, Brazilian-style jazz with the help of a fine supporting cast: Chris Cheek on saxes, Diego Urcola on trumpet, Edward Simon on piano, Avishai Cohen on bass, Jordi Rossy on drums, and Gilad on percussion. Bryant's specialty, in the tradition of bossa nova guitar legend Charlie Byrd, is the nylon string acoustic guitar, although he does play electric on several of these tracks. Most of Bryant's compositions have pretty melodies and straightforward samba or bossa nova feels; the album's most marked departure is Avishai Cohen's off-kilter piece "Light Green."
Bryant features his ensemble in various combinations, giving each piece a distinctive quality. Things seem to work best when he follows a less-is-more approach: "Lullaby for the Newborn" and "Niahnie's Dance," the two most interesting tracks, feature only acoustic guitar and percussion. In terms of sheer compositional prowess, however, "Patchwork in D" is Bryant's finest effort particularly the splendid passages that feature guitar and muted trumpet in unison."
David R. Adler (All Music Guide)