A recent look into the Brazilian jazz genre, which this newspaper undertook at no small fiscal expense and to grave emotional detriment, reveals that Antonio Carlos Jobim\u2019s “One-Note Samba” isn\u2019t what it seems. At least not the vocal stuff. That “one note” is actually two. Those of us blessed with perfect pitch put \u2019em at two and a half generous steps apart on the musical scale. They serve as the song\u2019s melody and as the introduction to the refrains, in which each musician showcases his talent for about 30 seconds. So within the strictest definition of reality, who the heck knows how many notes there are to this thing. That\u2019s what I?say. Tokeli\u2019s never exactly counted them, any more than you have. For this noted Coronado jazz vocalist, Brazilian stylings are tiny little states of mind, making up a vast musical language that transcends notes, key signatures and Jobim himself. If you\u2019re inclined, she and her band Samba de Toquali (featuring a guest appearance by local guitar legend Peter Sprague) will delight in acquainting you with this compelling art on Thursday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. The only problem is that you have to go to Anthology to see her. That\u2019s an outstanding problem to have. “It\u2019s the essence of fusion,”?Tokeli said of the genre. “I?just want to fuse samba, bossa nova, jazz and something entirely hip. I?don\u2019t know what the name for it is. Is it acoustic??Is it alternative??Is it hip-hop??There\u2019s something about bringing a backbeat to it and the way you approach it.” Cut through the theory, and all that makes sense. Far from occupying a niche all its own, Brazilian fare is grounded in several styles, all dependent on unorthodox rhythms and half-rhythms to achieve the trademark exotic effect. Acclaimed veteran local singer-actor Leonard Patton, on the vocal bill with Tokeli, said this musical lexicon is a “natural fit”?with American jazz. Both forms are heavy on experimentation, from which several subgenres congealed. “It starts with Jobim,”?Patton added. “It starts with that and kind of goes out from there.” And don\u2019t let the name scare you away. You know Jobim\u2019s work better than you think. He collaborated in the 1960s with American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian vocalist Astrud Gilberto on two albums. The first of these features the iconic “The Girl from Ipanema.” The works led to a Brazilian jazz mini-craze in the U.S., which somehow weathered Eydie Gorme\u2019s “Blame It on the Bossa Nova.” Blessedly, Jobim was never subjected to that particular piece of dogflop past 1994, the year he died at age 67. “But that whole Brazilian element in jazz has still been very popular,”?Sprague said. “It seems more accessible to a lot of [artists], even if they\u2019ve come from more pop and rock.” Tokeli and her guys are eminently capable of filling this tall order. There must be about a million years\u2019 collective experience here, which speaks to the dedication within a singularly talented group. For more, see anthologysd.com or call (619) 595-0300.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A recent look into the Brazilian jazz genre, which this newspaper undertook at no small fiscal expense and to grave emotional detriment, reveals that Antonio Carlos Jobim\u2019s “One-Note Samba” isn\u2019t what it seems. At least not the vocal stuff. That “one note” is actually two. Those of us blessed with perfect pitch put \u2019em at […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11556","_seopress_titles_title":"Scratching the niche: Brazilian jazz is Samba de Toquali's stock in trade","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11556,11593,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-downtown-news","category-no-images","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}