Rich K: Brazil and Beyond - Amanhã

All Music Guide

Led by bassist, musical director, and principal arranger Rich Kowalewski (aka Rich K.), Brazil and Beyond is a quartet of skilled practitioners of Brazilian styles that operates out of southern Michigan. Amanhã's program of Brazilian music and Kowalewski originals is a fruitful continuation of Kowalewski's 1999 CD, Brazil, which featured three quarters of the Brazil and Beyond lineup (the Rich K. part of the name would be dropped by the time of the band's next release). Amanhã's Brazilian numbers are performed with skill and passion, but tend to sound like something many listeners will have heard in various forms elsewhere. It's with Kowalewski's pieces where the group shows its potential. Still rooted in and inspired by samba, bossa nova, and choro styles, the originals, which incorporate jazz and pop elements, give the essentially acoustic group an outlet for unique, personal statements. Kowalewski and guitarist Frank Marinello are powerful instrumentalists. On electric fretless, Kowalewski, while not as pyrotechnic as Jaco Pastorius, shares Pastorius's gift as a moving and inventing melodicist. Marinello, a lyrical improviser on classical guitar, achieves a cooperative synergy in sharing solo duties with the bassist. As an accompanist, he effectively covers bass parts and rhythm section duties. Percussionist Dennis Sheridan paints an ever-changing canvas of exotic sounds and lends a rootsy Brazilian counter to the energizing thwack of drummer Rob Emanuel's more North American perspective. The original directions explored on Amanhã become more prominent and effectively exploited on the group's 2003 follow-up release, a remarkable program of Brazilian treatments of the songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

- Jim Todd, All Music Guide