Chris M. Slawecki, Editor Senior do All About Jazz comentou o recente CD de Ithamara Koorax, "Got To Be Real", lançado pela gravadora italiana IRMA para 35 distribuidoras através do mundo. No Brasil, a temporada de lançamento começa em Janeiro de 2013 na casa noturna "Plataforma/Bar do Tom" no Rio de Janeiro. Tomara que a Bahia, tão carente de espetáculos jazísticos de alto nível, seja incluída nesta temporada.
Eis uma parte do comentário:
"Singer Ithamara Koorax recorded her 15th solo CD, Got to Be Real (Irma, 2012), "live in the studio" in Rio de Janeiro, the place of her birth, with her touring band—bassist Jorge Pescara, drummer Haroldo Jobim (a cousin of Antonio Carlos Jobim) and keyboardist Jose Roberto Bertrami, founding member of Brazil's famous fusion export Azymuth, on Rhodes, Yamaha and Hammond organs, clavinet, and synthesizers. Small wonder that on Got to Be Real, Koorax sounds completely at home in different types of material, from Azymuth ("Toque de Cuica") to Herbie Hancock ("Butterfly") to Cole Porter to 1960s pop tunes by Little Anthony & The Imperials and The Fifth Dimension, to its title track, a David Foster-produced hit for disco diva Cheryl Lynn.
Koorax's career highlights are numerous and diverse. She's recorded or performed with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, Thiago de Mello, Hermeto Pascal and Eumir Deodato from her native Brazil, along with Dave Brubeck, Ron Carter, Larry Coryell, Claus Ogerman, John McLaughlin and stars from elsewhere in the jazz constellation. While Koorax was primarily introduced to international audiences through Serenade in Blue, licensed by Milestone Records for release in 2000, previous albums such as Ithamara Koorax Sings the Luiz Bonfa Songbook (King, 1996) were hits in her homeland and other countries.
Koorax and Azymuth soaked in the liquid warmth of Ivan Lins' title track for her Love Dance: The Ballad Album (Milestone, 2003) follow-up. On Autumn in New York (Jazz Station Records, 2005), she dedicated her stunning performance of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" to one of its most famous interpreters, Miles Davis, and dedicated "She Was Too Good to Me" to Chet Baker and Don Sebesky. In 2009, Koorax partnered with Brazilian guitarist Juarez Moreria for Bim Bom (Motéma), the first ever Joao Gilberto songbook. That same year, she collaborated with Swiss pianist Peter Schärli and his trio for the elegy Obrigado Dom Um Romao (TCB Music) upon the passing of the eponymous, illustrious Brazilian percussionist, followed with The Peter Schärli Trio featuring Ithamara Koorax: O Grande Amor (TCB Music) in 2010.
But like the enigmatic, exotic landscapes of her native Brazil, to many music fans Ithamara Koorax remains undiscovered beauty. Arranged and produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro, Got to Be Real begins with several languid and lush interpretations of pop classics from the 1960s and '70s before moving into Brazilian and jazz colors. "Ithamara has been singing these songs for many, many years, and this trio has been touring with her since 2005, not only in Brazil, but also in Europe and Asia," explains DeSouteiro. "We've been doing little modifications all the time, experimenting with different tempos and details until we felt they were finished and ready to record." (Sadly, Mr. Bertrami passed away in July 2012.)
Most Koorax albums contain a moment when her throat opens and unleashes an impossible but perfectly rendered note. On Got to Be Real, it's her impossibly high and long sustained note that closes the first chorus of its title track, expertly rearranged into a simmering and luxurious Sade quiet storm. Wrapping "Going Out of My Head" in Koorax's passionate and colorful voice turns it into something much more than the original hit by Little Anthony & The Imperials, plaintive as a teenager in love.
"Toque de Cuica" lights up a Real Brazilian jazz manifesto, thundering with echoes of the groundbreaking vocal/percussion work by Brazil's Flora Purim and Airto while Koorax's voice, sharp as a whip, thrashes its melody forward. Rendered as a duet between Koorax's breathless voice and Bertrami's Fender Rhodes, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" illuminates the creative intimacy between these two musicians, as vocalist and keyboardist seem to each effortlessly know where the other will be.
What would Koorax say to jazz fans who think there's too much pop on Got to Be Real? "I didn't count if I was singing two or three or five 'pop' songs. I always choose songs that I like to sing and that I feel I can add something personal to," Koorax explains. "I don't care if they are jazz tunes, Great American Songbook standards, bossa anthems, pop hits, R & B songs, I really don't care. Brazilian Butterfly was an album of traditional Brazilian folk songs and got rave reviews in the jazz community as well as in the electronica and dance-music areas."
Jazz historian Ira Gitler once wrote about Ithamara Koorax: "Her range and technique are remarkable, but you don't necessarily take time out to marvel at her technique until later on because you are too absorbed in her musical message. Her powerful singing speaks for itself with celestial elegance."
O restante da matéria, em que Ithamara é entrevistada, pode ser lido no próprio "site":
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=42920
