EntreMundos

To the cornucopia of great music deriving from today's São Paulo, this ten-piece band now add their fine second album. Their eponymous debut showed considerable promise, but this is shorter, tighter and more daring. Still rooted in jazz, EntreMundos, as its title suggests, finds the band ‘between worlds,’ exploring a plethora of styles and genres in the spirit of, say, Toronto's Souljazz Orchestra. Vibraphone, flute and cinematic brass combine to create an other-worldly feel to the opening ‘Jardins de Zaira’. It sets the tone for the riches that follow: the wailing harmonica that punches above the heavyweight ‘Rinoceronte Blues’; the calls of the wild and Indian classical references of ‘Terra Fértile’ that summon up a kind of distorted Sergio Leone western; the distinct Ethio-jazz vibe of ‘Felag Mengu’; a funky ‘Madame Butterfly’ that has nothing to do with the opera; a brooding and slightly deranged ‘Deliriuns’; and the soaring horn arrangements of ‘Estrada Para Camomila’ and the restless, indefinable ‘Olho do Tempo’.
Nomade Orquestra will be appearing in the UK this summer and, based on this impressive, original and enjoyable release, they’re not to be missed.