Chicago Tribune

Album reviews

Friday, December 12,1997

Mike Marshall: Brazil-Duets (Earthbeat) ***1/2

Arnie Solomon: Quarter Century (Heritage) ***1/2

Mike Marshall has enlisted both Brazilians and non-Brazilians for this project of choro duets. Characteristics of all choro music, the rhythms are spicy and swing in a tightly wound manner, with lush and sophisticated harmonies surrounding infectious melodies, giving mandolinist Marshall and cohorts like Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Jovino Santos Neto plenty with which to work. Even though mandolinist Arnie Solomon covers Denzil Best's jazz standard, "Move," he inhabits a world that is more in line with bluegrass. Solomon and his sidemen are not as well known as Marshall and his crew, but Solomon's playing and individuality are on a high level.

David Duckman [David Royko]