“Luiza” is one of those Antonio Carlos Jobim ballads that’s such a universally pretty piece of melancholy, it’s too restrictive to simply call it a “Brazilian” song; this is a universally appealing world-class composition. It’s alluring just with an acoustic guitar (or piano) and voice, but Greek-born bassist Petros Klampanis has done so much more with it. In this world premiere video, his sensitive treatment of “Luiza” is just as inviting as the song it pays homage to.
As part of his upcoming jazz quartet+strings quartet release Minor Dispute (out April 14, 2015 courtesy of Greg Osby’s Inner Circle Music), Petros Klampanis makes the Jobim classic a perfect vehicle for his chamber jazz project. “Luiza” and the rest of the tracks on this album are anchored by a multinational band of maestros with a similarly wide-angled view of music: pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, guitarist Gilad Hekselman and drummer John Hadfield.
The video above — which sees Marcelo Woloski behind the drum kit instead of Hadfield — is an alternate presentation of the version heard on Minor Dispute, differentiated mainly by the addition of Pilc’s finespun introductory figures. As on the album version, the graceful arrangement by Klampanis also casts Hekselman’s guitar in the lyrical role, which delivers notes with the same desirous quality of a vocal. Woloski’s cymbals provide brushstrokes of color to this aural painting, while the small string section breathes the harmony, briefly backing away for Petros Klampanis’ tone-perfect heartfelt pulses, the centerpiece of the whole performance.
Petros Klampanis’s classical background served him well to add an extra dose of finesse to a song that had already finesse at its core. This time, it’s addition by addition.
Learn more about Petros Klampanis at his website.
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