Jazz Reviews : Brazil’s Sonia Santos a Sensation at La Ve Lee

La Ve Lee, the Studio City hideaway that counters its Mediterranean cuisine with a Brazilian musical menu, has come up with another of its periodic discoveries in the sensational person of Sonia Santos.

This dynamo from Rio, a striking Afro-Brazilian woman in a zebra gown, arrived with a long list of credits as a singer, actress and composer. Though hemmed in by the tiny area open to her, she remained constantly in motion--arms, torso, flashing eyes--as the trio of keyboard virtuoso Antonio Adolfo furnished an infectious background, with drummer Aziz Bucater driving home every accent of the often complex rhythms while Antonio Santana devised intricate patterns on a fretless bass.

A theatrical performer (she was in the show “Oba Oba”), Santos communicated a rare sense of felicidade without over-dramatizing. A couple of the tunes such as “Mas Que Nada” stemmed from the early wave of Brazilian sounds; others seem to be of more recent origin. At the first show Thursday only one song, “Ela,” was partly in English, as were her announcements; everything else was strictly Portuguese.

The trio played an opening set that included some of Adolfo’s works from his recent album. “Hillside Train” was a spirited piece in the long tradition of locomotive music, but retaining the African undertow.

Santos and Adolfo will remain in the room Thursdays through Saturdays for an indefinite run.