Jazz Reviews : Ivan Lins Breaks Language Barrier

Ivan Lins, in his one-night stand Thursday at the Palace, left no doubt that he is the Antonio Carlos Jobim of the 1980s.

Performing to a wildly receptive crowd, most of whom watched his entire 90-minute show standing on what is theoretically the dance floor area (there are very few seats downstairs), the songwriter/singer/keyboardist was backed by a small group of heavyweights as he offered a series of selections from his fast-growing parade of hits.

As the audience reaction made clear, Lins has a tremendous appeal among the local Portuguese-speaking population; yet the power of his personality came through even in those songs that presented a language barrier for the non-Brazilians.

He counteracts a nondescript appearance with infectious enthusiasm and constant motion, often jumping up and down four times to the bar like a puppet on a string. Such songs as “Abre Alas” and “Dinorah” (most of his melodies have Portuguese lyrics by his longtime collaborator Vitor Martins) were delivered at a tempo that may have been hyped up a little beyond his norm, because of the rock inclinations of the Palace fans.

More significantly, since he appeared locally in a Lorimar videotaping at the Wiltern Theater a year ago, Lins has developed his bilingual knowledge to the point where several of his best works, notably “Love Dance,” were performed in excellent English. Paul Williams wrote the English words to “Love Dance,” but some of the other translations were the work of Brock Walsh.

For the most part, Lins’ message came across loud and clear, though sometimes more loud than clear; on several of the faster pieces the band almost drowned out what could have been a more meaningful interpretation.

Though Larry Williams on keyboard, tenor saxophone and lyricon was heavily featured, the backup quintet was most notable for Paulinho Da Costa’s intoxicating percussion cross rhythms and the drum dynamics of Alex Acuna.

During the finale, “Despair No More,” everyone got into the act prominently, with Nathan East offering a vocal interlude in unison with his bass like an updated, electronic Slam Stewart. As an encore Lins inevitably added his mega-hit “Maddalena.”

Very soon Lins may well duplicate in the United States the tremendous success he has been enjoying back home. In terms of his potential popularity here he could be the Brazilian Bruce Springsteen.