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Duduka Da Fonseca
(August 2005 Issue)
Samba
Deep As a teenager growing
up in Rio de Janeiro, Duduka Da Fonseca witnessed Brazil's bossa nova
revolution
firsthand. With renowned drummer Joao Palma as a neighbor,
Duduka was accepted into an inner circle of drummers including
Edison
Machado, Dom Um Romeo, and Milton Banana. Influenced and inspired,
Duduka was soon performing in clubs and on
TV shows all over Brazil.
Some thirty years on and many Brazilian and jazz recordings later,
Duduka Da Fonseca finally
records his grand solo statement, Samba Jazz Fantasia.
"My dream was to mix the American jazz that I loved
with Brazilian
samba," Fonseca says. "When I moved to New York City in 1976, I was one
of the few to play Brazilian jazz. A
handful of us wanted to revive the
Brazilian jazz sound. We didn't have any clubs to play, like there are
now. I began
working with Astrud Gilberto, and I always put bands
together, like The New York Samba Band, Brazilian Express, and now
Trio
Da Paz."
Samba Jazz Fantasia
boasts a heavyweight cast including John Scofield, Tom Harrell,
David
Sanchez, and Eddie Gomez. Fired by Duduka's light-as-a-feather but
constantly percolating drumming, the album
crosses the Brazilian styles
and sounds of Milton Nascimento and Antonio Carlos Jobim with a
ferocious NYC edge. It all
boils down to Fonseca's own approach.
Textural and muscular, his samba jazz workouts are blissful and
blistering.
"When I first came here and was playing more of a loose samba," Fonseca
says, "some people
didn't understand it. I had to adjust to play more
traditionally with non-Brazilian musicians. Then I would work my way
to
opening up and playing loose. I had to kind of educate musicians,
otherwise they didn't understand what I was doing.
You have to make it
basic at first, so people can trust you."
Ken Micallef
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