From an Unlikely Locale, Fiery Brazilian Music

Ordinarily, Minneapolis might not seem a logical home base for a Brazilian jazz group. But then there was a time--in the pre-Prince era--when it didn’t exactly seem to be a center for innovative rock music, either. And we all know how wrong that perception turned out to be.

So it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when the Minneapolis-based Estaire Godinez ensemble that turned up at La Ve Lee Friday and Saturday nights was such a first-rate band, their performance heating up the connections between jazz and a variety of Latin rhythms.

If the name Estaire Godinez doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry; you’ll be hearing much more from this talented singer-percussionist. Although she was born in Oakland, Godinez, who is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, spent 15 years living in Spain and the Netherlands, soaking up all sorts of world music sounds.

She appeared in the Southland recently backing up George Benson, but her La Ve Lee performance--with guitarist Mike Scott, tenor saxophonist Eric Leeds, keyboardist Peter Schimke, drummer Stokely Williams and bassist Serge Akou--was all her own.

The blond, slender Godinez was seated front and center in the club’s compact stage area, her hands moving in arcs of choreographic ease across a circle of conga drums, bongos, timbales, cymbals and a seemingly endless array of hand percussion and sound makers.

Many of the tunes featured her sensuous, smoky vocals, floating through subtle waves of rhythm with special effectiveness on “Garota de Ipanema,” “All or Nothing at All” and “Besame Mucho.”

The vocals, however, were only one aspect of Godinez’s skill and, for that matter, of her ensemble’s musical strengths. On piece after piece, the creative energy level was at peak production: fiery soloing from Schimke and Scott, in particular, with Leeds often linking up with Godinez’s wordless melody lines.

The weather may be chilly in Minneapolis, but it hasn’t diminished the capacity of Godinez or her players to raise the jazz temperature to steamy levels.