CD Review: Tanaóra's Dia Real

One of the pleasures of working in the Bay Area latin jazz scene is hearing the cross-fertilization that occurs when so many fine musicians are exposed to the cultural diversity that simmers here. A new CD by the band Tanaóra, Dia Real (Moondo Records, January 2009) is a perfect example of the soulful Pan American sound that seems to spring naturally from Northern California.

Led by a trio of established musicians, singer-songwriter Cecilia Engelhart, pianist Bob Karty and percussionist Michael Spiro, Tanaóra's repertoire swirls languages and styles over a bubbling groove. Given the supporting cast of seasoned studio musicians, the soulful underpinnings are no surprise: Ron Stallings on saxes, David Belove on bass and Paul Van Wageningen on drums easily ride the temporal fluctuations demanded by Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, jazz and South American styles.

There are singer-songwriter records and there are composer records, but this date straddles these extremes with a definite band feel. Although Engelhart's lovely voice stands out with fluid, light tones throughout, she alternately moves to the forefront and then blends in with her collaborators. A pianist with big ears and supple style, Karty's tasteful inventiveness is evident on every track. Spiro's layered percussion work is recorded in great clarity, creating myriad environments. The date is excellently mixed by the trio with engineer Jeff Cressman.

The first track sets the mood perfectly with a well-chosen piece, El Pez, an oceanic parable by the Mexican poet Eduardo Langagne and the Brazilian musician Manduka. It begins with the alternating rattle and resonant thump of a chekere over a bell pattern, and as the arrangement builds with piano and bass, Engelhart's clear soprano enters. Interestingly, a 1988 version of the tune performed by the eclectic Mexican artist Eugenia León also features chekere and a one-note ostinato, but the anachronistic use of synthesizers contrasts with Tanaóra's more languid acoustic arrangement.

The song is also the longest on the recording, at just over 10 minutes. Midway through, Karty takes a wandering solo and the tune naturally builds into a modern American jazz exploration, with funkier bass and drumset support. Then Engelhart returns and Stallings dances in on soprano saxophone with a lilting Carioca feel. The song closes out with doubling on vocals for emphasis, one of my favorite effects. On the outro, the band begins to fuse panned, echoing vocals, batá drums and Stallings on expressive trills and bebop squawks. Engelhart's percussive breathing reminds me of Claudia Villela here.

The next song contrasts perfectly: Nonsense syllables by Engelhart on The Katanga Patrol poke fun at the "clave police" with a melody that breaks down into three-bar phrases that alternate beginning on the two- or three-side of clave. Jeff Cressman's trombone adds to the texture. Karty's long experience as a pianist with Orquesta La Moderna Tradición and other Afro-Cuban bands is in evidence here and throughout as he comps rhythmically and inventively. Like all the musicians on the album, he displays considerable depth, and unveils arranging skills with the gorgeous strings on the Engelhart original Dia Real, a compelling if incomplete story of a woman living a double life.

As a singer, I can't complain: Tanaóra plays with so many of the voice's possibilities, be they language (English, Spanish and Portuguese), range (Engelhart reveals rich alto tones on the Jobim tune Bonita, against Karty's playful cha-cha piano), scat (Engelhart's tune Rollón and the standard Polkadots and Moonbeams). Further, the melding of a vocalist with a pianist and percussionist means nothing goes neglected. There are many more discoveries to be made than I've mentioned here: I love the vocal doubling and the harmonies on the horn lines on the mambo section of Polkadots and Moonbeams, to name just one.

The feel of Dia Real is authentically global, gently rhythmic and unmistakeably a product of our Baghdad by the Bay. Hear them for yourself: Tanaóra's CD release concert will be at Yoshi’s in Oakland's Jack London Square, Monday May 4 at 8 pm!