––Michael Brecker
Rating: Excellent
AMG PICK
Since their eponymous debut in 2000, the Chicago-based Two For Brazil has been steadily gaining fans and exposure around the world, and for good reason: their organic meld of Brazilian and jazz sensibilities is distinctive, and their approach is intimate, classy and full of light.
The duo of guitarist/vocalist Paulinho Garcia and tenor/flute player Greg Fishman evokes the historic pairing of Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz - especially on "O Grande Amor,” one of their earliest bossa nova hits - but Fishman's playing is less brawny and breathy, and Garcia offers a greater variety of rhythm and emotion.
This CD features stellar, swinging versions of two jazz classics "Night in Tunisia and "Take Five”, with Fishman weaving strong, eloquent lines around Garcia's expressive vocals and lyrical guitar.
The 12 Brazilian gems range from the classic Jobim, Baden Powell, and Bonfa to the contemporary Djavan, Toninho Horta, and Gilberto Gil, all rendered beautifully and straight from the heart.
Standouts include the sensuous "Deixa," "Anos Dourados," Fishman's airy flute solo on "Que Maravilha,” and the exquisite "Pra Dizer Adeus," which is interpreted with less despair than usual, given Fishman's warm elegance and the infinite tenderness of Garcia's voice.
This duo seems to breathe together. A well-paced mixture of buoyancy, thoughtfulness, and tropical romance, Take Five is a perfect antidote to a noisy, worrisome world, and a must-have for fans of Brazilian jazz.
— Judith Schlesinger, All Music Guide
Review: The wait is over, for here comes the long awaited new recording by Two For Brazil, featuring the talents of Paulinho Garcia on acoustic guitar & vocals, and Greg Fishman on tenor saxophone & flute. TAKE FIVE is a fine CD collection, full of sensitive and haunting melodies performed as only Garcia and Fishman together can create!
There are 14 songs on this CD. Among them are such jazz gems as "A Night In Tunisia," "Take Five," the hauntingly beautiful "Pra Dizer Adeus" ("To Say Goodbye"), "Capim" ("Grass"), "Menina Flor" (Young Flower"), and "Batida Diferente," ("Different Beat"), among others.
Garcia and Fishman are incredibly good together in this collection, and Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond would be genuinely pleased with this duo's performance of their classic "Take Five." Garcia's beautiful and sensitive vocals and guitar performances are a perfect match for the sensitive and indepth saxophone and flute performances of Fishman. This is one of the finest duos in contemporary jazz.
TAKE FIVE is a winner in all ways. This is a flawless, beautiful collection and will appeal to all jazz listeners.
TAKE FIVE is a classic in the making and a recording which will hold up well with the passage of time.
TAKE FIVE delights, entertains, and is enjoyable listening. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by: Lee Prosser
Two For Brazil - "Take Five"
PERSONNEL: Paulinho Garcia, acoustic guitar, vocals; Greg Fishman, tenor saxophone & flute.
By Winthrop Bedford
Two For Brazil is a refreshing and energetic duo that performs a combination of standards, jazz, and Brazilian tunes. What makes the duo so compelling is the compatibility and delightful, danceable interplay between these two consummate musicians--Greg Fishman on tenor sax and flute, and Paulinho Garcia on guitar, bolstered by his authentic renditions of the lyrics to these songs.
The unmistakable influence of Stan Getz in terms of both sound and unwavering allegiance to a musical, lyrical, and melodic approach, with flawless technique are cornerstones of Fishman's style. Indeed, Fishman is regarded as an expert on the music of Stan Getz, whose four books of transcriptions of Getz's solos are published by Hal Leonard Corporation. While Fishman certainly has an abundance of academic credentials-including an undergraduate degree in music from De Paul University and a Masters Degree in Jazz at Northwestern University-it would be not only be presumptuous but a big mistake to characterize Fishman's music, improvisational skills as "academic." Fishman is a sensitive and stellar musician, who has played with Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Ira Sullivan, Eddie Higgins, and the Woody Herman Band. His own recordings define that quite thoroughly––including Indian Summer recorded with pianist Eddie Higgins; “In The Moment,” a quartet recording led by his wife and pianist Judy Roberts, along with two earlier albums by the duo Two For Brazil the first entitled Two For Brazil, and the latter Plays The Standards.
Guitarist Garcia is a rhythmic dynamo whose harmonic and rhythmic contribution to this duo, make it so that the absence of a bassist doesn't even come to mind. Garcia arrived in the USA in 1979, after a successful stint composing, arranging, producing and performing jingles for a studio in Brazil; and founded his own band Jazzmineiro in 1991 in Chicago.
Take Five is the latest CD by this magnificent duo. The chemistry between Garcia and Fishman is readily apparent from the opening notes of the first track––a lively up-tempo rendition of Gilberto Gil's composition "Meio De Campo." Fishman serves up a masterfully lyrical solo. The interplay and sensitivity between the two is notable in their expression of the melodies. For example, within the background or accompaniment lines he plays on tenor sax, Fishman accents certain apropos syncopations and key points in concert with Garcia's expression of the melody.
The two provide another spirited performance on the well-known jazz standard "A Night In Tunisia' by Dizzy Gillespie. Fishman turns in another finely crafted and emotion-driven solo on this track. Garcia's vocals and vocalizations are an ideal foil for Fishman's tenor.
The two move into a more relaxed mode in their performance of Baden Powell's "Deixa,"which is a familiar melody to those who are familiar with Brazilian music. Garcia, as usual, sings the lyrics in native Portuguese. I felt the relaxed, comfortable interaction the two shared on Paul Desmond's "Take Five," which is in 5/4 time, and taken at an energetic tempo here. Garcia provides rock solid time, and his confidence clearly makes it a cinch for Fishman to sound great. On "Que Maravilha," Fishman switches over to flute, contributing another tastefully improvised solo-both rhythmically and melodically. "Chovendo Na Roseira" is in 3/4, and features a nod to more of a swing groove, than the straight eighth, bossa nova flavor that is what this album is very much about. The last of the fourteen tracks on this album is a spirited version of my favorite tunes "Batida Diferente" which I first heard on the landmark Cannonball Adderley album from 1962, Cannonball Adderley and The Bossa Rio Sextet. Fishman turns in one more fine tenor solo.
I recommend this album highly because it is so very musical from beginning to end, overflowing with Fishman's tasteful tenor sax solos, Garcia's toe-tapping rhythms, inspiring accompaniment, relaxed, solid sense of time, and the variety of grooves and tempos inspired different feelings and emotions throughout.
Allaboutjazz.com review of Take Five (September 2003 edition):
Take Five
Two For Brazil | Jazzmin Records, Inc.
Quick and to the Point: Rewarding Brazilian jazz.
Although over-enthusiastically hailed as a Dave Brubeck-Paul Desmond resurrection in the liner notes, this Take Five isn’t umbilically linked to its illustrious namesake. It is, however, first-rate Brazilian jazz that stands on its own with ease, featuring an infectious emotive largesse, melodic pervasiveness and two festively brilliant reinterpretations of both “A Night in Tunisia,” as well as the title cut itself.
Two For Brazil is Paulinho Garcia and Greg Fishman. They broaden and diversify the music when Fishman doubles on two wind instruments and Garcia vocalizes himself into a virtual third member of this highly effective duo.
Fishman has technical facility and confidence in his capacity to play in the right spirit of the music, and in its own idioms – without depersonalizing his playing in the process – an approachable fully toned range, peppered with muito sabor. Whether enamoring the listener with his sexy whispers in “Deixa,” his loving melancholic roughness in “Anos Dourado,” the bumble bee boppings of “Menina Flor,” or his jazzier and more energetic passages in “Take Five” and “A Night In Tunisia,” as well as his brief but welcomed flute incursions, this saxophonist is in velvety tune with both the material and his varying roles within this unit.
Garcia’s vocals are embracing. At times, he's a mellow old hand, manly in the delicate sensuality endemic to Brazil, albeit percussively rich – as on “Batida Diferente.” On “Que Maravilha,” his storytelling is truly delightful, with percussive breaks to refashion its melodic pulse, within Fishman’s extremely capable flute playing. Overall, the singing on this recording is organically related to its guitar performances. As such, Garcia enriches the group in such ways as to make the listener forget that everything happening stems from just two people. He even enables plenty of bass bottoms with a fertile and full intonation; his technique is quite fine, and one can actually feel his playing while listening to this recording.
Between Fishman and Garcia, they give rise to a new organ: the brainheart. There’s no telling whether it’s two, three, four or just one entity in operation here…
~ Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz