Thomas Dobler Quartet – Saudade do Brasil
Thomas Dobler: vibes
Andy Scherrer: tenor sax
Marianne Racine: piano/vocals
Stephan Kurmann: bass
While most of the music performed by this quartet is devoted to a longing (saudade) for Brazil’s joie de vivre, it also pays special homage to the bossa nova.
Although this special and inspiring style may have originated in Brazil, it has continued to develop over the years in other countries, at the hands of non-Brazilian composers, and is now a stable, worldwide tradition. This becomes strikingly obvious when Thomas Dobler and his quartet perform (as is only to be expected) compositions by the originator of bossa nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and other famous and less-famous Brazilian composers, as well as the wonderful works of American-born Burt Bacharach and other “bossa novists”. The bossa nova is a rousing style of music which is guaranteed to touch both the head and the heart, no matter where it is composed or performed.
The Thomas Dobler Quartet comprises four fantastic, highly accomplished experts on both Brazil and the bossa nova. All are imaginative, top-class performers who are visibly and audibly inspired by this collaboration and style of music. Marianne Racine‘s clear and wide-ranging voice and her awareness of the strength and expression that can be found in even the finest and quietest of notes produce fascinating highlights within the quartet’s harmonious, pulsating sound.
