Groove o' the day: Tamba Trio — Negro

Posting is going to be a little spotty for the next few days; I'm recording my new album at the beginning of next week, and until then I'll be preoccupied with stuff related to that. Someone will be hearing from me today or tomorrow about a free Skype lesson, so there's still time to get in on that, if you're interested.

Here's a Brazilian adaptation of our now-very familiar Afro 6/8 feel— or 12/8, in this case. The song is Negro, from the album Avanço by the Tamba Trio, with Hélcio Milito on drums.

A pianist I work with, Weber Iago, from Rio De Janeiro, tells me this style is not actually native to Brazilian music— there is not a major Brazilian equivalent of that Afro-Cuban triplet groove. The band here is copping a foreign style, either Afro-Cuban or African. Being a provincial, I always thought American musicians were somewhat unique in our eclecticism— our inauthenticity, if you want to be critical of it— but it's really a worldwide thing in commercial music.

Here's the whole intro, which is played twice:

After the intro, the band breaks into straight Bossa Nova, at a slightly faster tempo.

Audio after the break: