Brazilian Fever : Antonio Adolfo is helping musicians and fans better understand the rhythms, melodies and dances of the South American nation

The Frevo ! The Baiao ! The Samba! The Choro ! The rhythms and the melodies these names suggest are enough to make the blood pulse and the body move.

Brazilian music, one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest, richest bodies of sheer creative energy, is in the vanguard of the ‘90s fascination with world music. Given the history of Brazilian influences--from the Carmen Miranda sambas of the ‘30s to the bossa nova of the ‘60s--it’s no surprise that the last few years have again seen an explosion of interest in the rhythms, melodies and dances of the huge South American melting-pot nation.

Antonio Adolfo, a pianist and educator who divides his time between Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles, is determined to help musicians and fans become better acquainted with dance rhythms such as the frevo and the samba, and song styles such as the baiao and the choro .

Toward that end, he has put together a video, with accompanying tutorial booklet, titled “Secrets of Brazilian Music.” In an hourlong series of mini-lessons, Adolfo takes the viewer on a complete tour of the forms mentioned above, and tosses in bossa nova and samba-funk for good measure.

“I like to teach by encouraging my students to discover the kinds of sound they can produce--how they can externally interpret the sounds they hear internally,” he explains. “The video and the booklet give the technical information, but--maybe more important--they show how Brazilian music is not just exact accents and rhythms, but a feeling as well.”

“Secrets of Brazilian Music” has triggered a number of ringing endorsements from well-known South American musicians. “It is very difficult teaching our music to the world,” says bossa nova great Antonio Carlos Jobim. “Antonio Adolfo has a sense of synthesis that all great educators have. I greatly admire the guy and his works.”

And Sergio Mendes describes Adolfo as “the only one who could have conceived such a perfect instructional video, teaching this very sophisticated type of music.”

Talaya Trigueros, host of KTWV’s “World Music Hour” and an expert on Brazilian music, says, “Adolfo has made a major contribution toward the teaching of future music makers.”

The video was taped at a number of Brazilian locations. “I did it that way,” Adolfo says, “because I think you get a better feeling for the music if you see the place that it comes from--and the people and the atmosphere too. That’s why I didn’t over-dub my voice, even though I have a strong accent. I think it helps create a feeling for the country. And that’s an important part of understanding the music.”

Adolfo, a 44-year-old native of Rio, studied classical composition with Nadia Boulanger (the teacher of, among others, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein). He has also been active for the last two decades as a pop, jazz and blues musician in his native country and the United States. His song “Pretty World” was a hit for Sergio Mendes and subsequently recorded by everyone from Herb Alpert to Stevie Wonder.

In the mid-’70s, Adolfo established his own school in Rio, Centro Musical Antonio Adolfo. More than 300 students are enrolled. He has taught in Los Angeles at the Grove School of Music, the Musician’s Institute, USC and the Brazilian Music Center.

Adolfo’s teaching mirrors the method used for the “Secrets of Brazilian Music” video. “Especially with the young kids, but for older students too,” he says, “we try to teach from the heart. I don’t believe in the approach that makes young musicians think that everything comes from the written page. Music is much richer than that.”

Since the mid-’80s, Adolfo has commuted between Rio and an apartment in Burbank. Although he is pleased about the growing American interest in Brazilian music, he has reservations about its long-term acceptance.

“Brazilian music is very sophisticated--rhythmically, melodically and harmonically,” he explains. “And it’s almost impossible to computerize. You just can’t feed our rhythms into a drum machine. So, if audiences continue to like to hear pop music made from synthesizers and drum machines, then Brazilian music will never become really popular.

“Many jazz musicians like to include one or two Brazilian pieces on their albums, and that’s good. And David Byrne and Sting and Paul Simon have helped open people’s ears. But I think the more harmonically and rhythmically complex Brazilian music may always be like jazz--appreciated by a smaller, more sophisticated audience.”

Ideally, Adolfo would like to see that audience’s receptivity expanded by an exposure to his teaching video--in Brazil as well as in this country.

“It’s very strange,” he says, “that so few of our own people appreciate our culture. It’s very sad, but they really don’t pay much attention to it.

“Many Brazilians feel that the music from the United States and Europe is somehow better, more sophisticated, than their own music. Choros and sambas are not heard as much on the radio in Rio as you might think. And Michael Jackson is heard a lot more than Milton Nascimento,” Adolfo says, referring to a Brazilian star.

Adolfo, however, is determined to spread his gospel of enthusiasm for Brazilian music--in both countries. A theory and composition book will be published in the coming year, and he releases CDs with his own groups at regular intervals. (The current album is titled “Jinga,” on Happy Hour Records.)

“It’s funny,” he muses. “When I’m in the U.S., I become more Brazilian, because that’s the kind of music people expect me to play. But when I’m in Brazil, people just want to hear me play jazz--a 4-4 beat with a walking bass.

“But it’s OK,” he concludes. “I like to play both kinds of music--and I do whatever I must do to earn my living. Just so long as I can keep on telling and showing people how great Brazilian music is. That’s the real reason I made the video.”