Lins Shows Good Performers Can Prevail

Bad things sometimes happen to good performers. And Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivan Lins got more than his share Wednesday night at the House of Blues.

He was, first of all, saddled with a completely incompatible opening act--Japanese singer Toshi Kubota--whose complicated setup had to be removed before Lins could appear. Then, once Lins made it to the stage, close to 11 p.m., he was persistently obliged to stop and start numbers over again because of a thicket of audio problems.

But good performers can prevail over bad things. And Lins, one of the best, did more than prevail--he triumphed. Operating in a style that encompassed a variety of Brazilian rhythms, the loose, improvisatory character of jazz and the rich harmonic foundation of the bossa nova era, he brought these elements together with no feeling of artifice or manipulation.

Standing stage center behind a small keyboard, surrounded by his five-piece ensemble, Lins was a relaxed and amiable figure. His voice, which reaches from sweet high notes to a driving, almost gravelly mid-range, was the perfect emotional vehicle for his multi-textured songs. Occasionally interacting with the crowd, encouraging the sizable Brazilian segment of the audience to join in some of the choruses, he generated musical sanity in a room that had nearly been blasted away by the excessive decibels of the Kubota performance.

Most of Lins’ program was devoted to material from his new TransBrasil album, “I’m Not Alone,” along with such familiar and appealing Lins’ classics as “Comecar de Novo” (The Island) and “Love Dance.” He also included a couple of Jobim tunes and occasionally tossed in whimsical references to other works--the introduction to “Dinorah, Dinorah” was a phrase from Joe Zawinul’s “Birdland.”

Even with all the problems--the interminable delays, the annoying audio distractions--it was a superb performance.