Keep (it) Swinging: Mario Adnet

A tribute to the music of Jobim
The influence of Gerry Mulligan's 1953 Tentette and quartet recordings on Jobim's music.
Hans Koert

Mario Adnet, Brazilian born US guitarist, recalles, that Moacir Santos had cited his discovery of composer and saxophonist Gerry Mulligan as one of the definiting moments of his career, and it was only while recording More Jobim Jazz that Adnet fully grasped the profound influence that Mulligan's 1953 recording, tentette and quartet, also had on Jobim - an influence which is clearly evident on this brilliant hommage.

Mario Adnet ( photo courtesy: Mario Adnet)
Mario Adnet was born in Rio de Janeiro September 1957. When he was nine years old he started to play the guitar. As a teenager he played in clubs and at school. He studied musical theory and graduated in 1974 in the US. He moved to Austria to study at the Vienna Music Academy. As a guitarist he made dozens of albums, solo as well as albums with an orchestra. During the first decade of the twenty-first century he introduced some interesting projects, like one dedicated to the city of Rio de Janeiro (2002), one dedicated to choro music ( he participated in a Pixinguina project before) (1983) and the music of Jobim and played with Moacir Santos, the Brazilian composer, saxophone player, who lived in the US. Mario met Moacir Santos several times before Moacir passed away in 2006, 82 years old. Maocir told Mario about the time that he was the conductor of the Brazilian Radio Nacional network searching for interesting jazz compositions, to arrange for the band ........

Mario Adnet - More Jobim Jazz (AM1070 2) (cover painting originally by Guilherme Secchin)
It was at one of those occasions that Moacir told Mario that he found some great recordings by Gerry Mulligan, which inspired him. But after so many years Moacir couldn t remember what Gerry Muligan records. Mario was fascinated by the music of Antonio Jobim and released during the last decade several albums dedicated to the music of Jobim, like Jobim Sinfônico. In 2005 the Jobim songbook was released with Maucha Adnet as vocalist and in 2006 he released the album Jobim Jazz. While recording the latter he heard that Moacir passed away. When he and Paulo Jobim listen to the final mix of some of the recordings, Mario tells in the liner notes, Paulo sprung up and said: This reminds me of the first record I learned to put on a Victrolia, when I was four years old. Paulo opened a drawer full of CD's and plucked out a disc, to my surprise, by Gerry Mulligan: tentette and quartet, recorded in 1953.

Mario Adnet ( photo courtesy: Mario Adnet)
Are there visitors of this blog who haven't heard about Antonio (Tom) Carlos Jobim? I can't imagine. Born in Tijuca - Rio de Janeiro, January 1927, he grew up in Ipanema. Aged fourteen, Tom started to study the piano with some exellent teachers and became fascinated by the music of the Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos and musicians like Pixinguinha and Ary Barrosso. During the early 1950s he became a musical director for Odéon and composed with Newton Mendonca tunes like Desafinado and Samba de Una Nota So. It must have been around that time that Mulligan must have influenced Jobim with his tentette recordings ............ Although he loved to play the piano he became known for his compositions. As a composer he was unique and he became the most successful Brazilian musical figure of the second half of the XXth century.

With Adnet's latest album, More Jobim Jazz, which was recorded a year ago in Rio de Janeiro February 2011, Mario shares more then a dozen, for me, less known compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim. You won't find tunes like One Note Samba or the Girl from Ipanema, but compositions like Bonita, recorded by Antonio Carlos Jobim with the orchestra of Nelson Riddle in the 1960s; Al Quem Me Dera, which was recorded several times by Lee Konitz; Antigua, a tune, which was originally released at the album Wave, which was recorded in Englewood Cliff May-June 1967 in which Antonio Carlos Jobim played the harpsichord,
The tracks selected for this album were all previously recorded by Antonio Carlos Jobim in albums like Luiz Bonfa (1955) - Alvorada (1960) - The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim (1964) - Wave (1967) - Tide (1970) - Stone Flower (1970) - Urubu (1975) - Terra Brasilis ( 1980) - Edu & Tom (1981) and Antonio Brasileiro (1994)
Enjoy a fragment of Mario Adnet's Marina Del Rey to be found on his new More Jobim Jazz album.
It is hard to select a favourite track - Mario Adnet did a great job to arrange these Jobim compositions for his band, which includes a full sax section, (incl baritone saxophone), a brass section ( incl. French Horn) and a great rhythm section ( with Mario Adnet on acoustic guitar on most tracks). - a tribute to Brazilian music and the unsurpassed sound of Jobim. Tunes like Boto and O Barbinha Branca with Marcos Nimrichter ( who plays the piano on most tracks) on accordion, surprised me.

The intro of the final track, Samba do Avião, will be recognized by most listeners as part of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, as the tune itself was recorded by dozens other Brazilian musicians like Charlie Byrd, Baden Powell, Eumir Deodato, Eliane Elias ( as Jet Samba) and Maucho Adnet, with Randy Brecker, Claudio Roditi and Mario Adnet in the personnel.
Mario Adnet's latest album More Jobim Jazz is a must-have for all those fans of the Brazilian sounds and compositions of Carlos Jobim.
Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl

The music of Antonio Carlos Jobim belongs to the best known music from Brazil and his compositions are played during the last five decades by hundreds of jazz musicians. The Brazlian born US guitar player Mario Adnet is fascinated by the music of Jobim and together with the late veteran Moacir Santos, he honoured Jobim in precvios recordings. Recently Mario Adnet's latest album has been released entitled More Jobim Jazz - a must have for all music lovers, who admire Jobim's musical heritage. The Keep (it) Swinging blog loves to point you to this kind of releases - if you don't wnat to miss any contribution, follow the Keep (it) Swinging blog at Twitter (#keepitswinging) of ask for its free monthly newsletter: keepswinging@live.nl