JAZZ REVIEW : Brazilian Melodies Amid the Clatter

Glen Garrett was in trouble from the start of his first number at the Moonlight Tango Tuesday night.

The arranger-composer’s 20-piece Brazilian big band should easily have overpowered the distractions of a raucous audience. But Garrett seemed determined, for most of his set, to entice with warm and intricate instrumental textures rather than dazzle with high-decibel percussion. The result was that most of the intricacies of his orchestrations were buried beneath the clatter of loud conversations and rattling dinnerware.

Fortunately, singer Katia Moraes took a more aggressive stance, breaking through the racket by the sheer force of her musical personality. Singing a set of numbers associated with the late Elis Regina, one of Brazil’s most famous pop-jazz performers, Moraes was a shimmering whirlwind of energy.

Garrett’s ensemble played well enough, given the apparent lack of rehearsal time, and trumpeter Ron King and saxophonist Dick Mitchell made the most of their limited solo spaces. What was missing was the visceral quality--the sheer, body-rhythm swing--so vital to Brazilian music. Had that been present, had the rhythm section been energized by inner fire rather than the need to concentrate on reading sheet music, the audience might well have found the pleasures of listening preferable to the distractions of dinner conversation.