There might not be a better match in the forward-thinking, hard-to-pin-down Ropeadope catalog than the Brazilian-born percussionist and composer Cyro Baptista. Few if any are more far-ranging than Baptista, currently a 20-year-plus member of Trey Anastasio’s band but one who has worked with Paul Simon to Yo-Yo-Ma and John Zorn, Herbie Hancock to Kathleen Battle, and Laurie Anderson, the legendary Brazilians Milton Nascimento and Caetano Veloso, and those in more conservative camps such as Wynton Marsalis and Sting. In addition to his ten albums as a leader, including this one, Chama (Portuguese translation “Flames”), Baptista has appeared on several Grammy award-winning records and over 300 albums as a sideman. He leads four different ensembles and tours continuously globally. His credits as an educator are equally dazzling.
For these sessions, he doesn’t specify a particular band and instead mixes the instrumentation throughout, calling on many longtime collaborators in the process such as Todd Clouser and Laurie Anderson, with key players Brian Marsella, Gil Oliveira, Felipe Hostings, Aaron Cruz, Jamie Saft, Romero Lumbamo and Sergio Brandão. Other notables include guitarists Kevin Breit, Clay Ross, Wesley Amorim, among several others. The album was recorded in seven studios and features a different instrumental lineup on each of the fourteen tracks, all of which Baptista wrote or co-wrote. Baptista adds his own oft-wordless vocals to several tracks and plays as few as two and as many as nine instruments on a given track, beginning with the former on the opener “Fast Forward,” a danceable Brazilian tune with Oliveira on drums, Hostings on accordion, Jorge Continentino on fife, and Brandao on bass. The acid bluesy “Gotta Move” features the guitars of Clouser and Breit with English vocals traded between Baptista and Clouser. “Afriksy” is a solo venture with nine percussion tools creating an entrancing jungle-like vibe.
The title track is a mix of flamenco with John Lee’s acoustic, and a celebration driven by Hostings’ accordion and Berit’s mandola, with Carlos Eduardo Costa arranging the joyous voices. As is customary Baptista’s various percussive devices blend well with Oliveira’s drumming. “SanfoSeven” is much like the opener, as the quintet, featuring Continentino’s fife, Hostings’ accordion and Wesley Amorim’s acoustic guitar play an infectious groove while “A Drop in the Ocean” delivers a spooky, more ethereal harmonic with cello (Vincent Segal) and piano (Costa). Baptista twists the arrangement of Mexican favorite, “La Bamba” with Lumbambo on guitars and Cruz on the Mexican bass as Baptista sings with Pamela Driggs. The haunting, agitated “Annuntiatio,” a co-write with Laurie Anderson, features her strings as the light, trio rendered “Constellation,” with longtime associate Brian Marselia, features the latter on an array of keys and flutes. Perhaps the various whooshing sounds can be attributed to Baptista’s waterphone (whatever that is).
The Afro-Cuban chant of “Perigo Na Area” has a trio as well with Amorim and Brandao while two other pieces, “Candomblues” and “477” feature the duo of Baptista and Sergio Krakowski creating insatiable grooves mixed with chants and a bit of spoken word. The funky, stirring “Paramaribo,” the final combo piece, sets four voices against the percolating rhythms of Baptista, Oliveira, Marselia, and Clay Ross on guitar with an amusing, obvious Mexican coda mixed in near the end. The one-minute “Wash Your Hands” concludes with another highly danceable flourish.
It’s probably fair to say that only Cyro Baptista could concoct a mix of music to include Brazilian, Mexican, and Afro-Cuban forms with hints of jazz, funk, and whatever else may fit, sometimes with multiple forms within the same song. Yet, even while you may not detect the particular style or have a total grasp on what he’s up to, he somehow makes it accessible and infectious.