Caetano Veloso: Brazil's John Lennon rocks out

I first became aware of Caetano Veloso a few years ago when watching "Talk to Her," Pedro Almovadar's film about, well, that would take awhile to explain. Anyway, at one point in the film, there's a scene of a party with a singer singing a song called "Cucurcu." A gray-haired man sings this evocation of a bird in a lovely tenor voice.

Asking friends who know Brazilian music, I found out that he is a major figure down there and bought a 2 CD compilation of his stuff. As can be the case with compilations, I came away with no firm impression of him. However, when I saw that he was coming to Boston, I decided to go see him.

His November 2 appearance at the Orpheum was remarkable. The place was packed, seemingly 90% with Brazilians from the metro area's large and growing Brasilero community. A Brazilian woman behind me explained to her American born friend that Veloso is bigger in Brazil than John Lennon or Bob Dylan, and that people still not only play his hits from the '60s, but quote them as well. Lest you think, hey that's true of Dylan, too, she was clear that not only middle-aged people, but young people, too, worship Veloso. (I have noticed that Brazilian, and possibly Latin music in general, has a much stronger intergenerational thing going than rock or other pop forms here.)

Nonetheless, I was taken aback by the concert. Veloso came out in jeans, running shoes and a faded polo shirt with a jean jacket over it. Short gray hair, glasses (okay, when's the last time you saw a pop star wearing glasses?), mid-60s. He's a slight man, and was a veritable sprite on stage -- pogoing around, gesturing a la Motown. The set was drenched in rock, as is his latest album, Ce. But they never relied on volume to achieve their ends -- they had classic Brazilian sense of dynamics and rhythm.

He threw in some older stuff (not enough for much of the audience, I heard later), too. Most of the songs were in Portugese, so I can't speak to the lyrics. Brazilian lyrics are often wonderfully adult and I'm assuming the same, partly based on the one English song he did sing. He talked for awhile about his past and role (he acknowledged he yaks a lot on stage) and I read his website. It's filled with essay after essay that would easily score an A in a grad school lit class. The man is thoughtful, literate and makes wonderful music.

What most struck me is that suddenly I was the alien from Mars who had landed on Earth and found myself in the middle of something that seemed wonderful if not fully comprehensible. It reminds me once again that America's cultural weight sometimes prevents us from experiencing alternative visions that are equally compelling. Brazil and Cuba are the two most obvious in our own neck of the woods.

Now that's jazz!

John Abercrombie is one of the world's elite jazz guitar players. For 30 years, he's been making music that ranges from standards to pretty out there psychedlic jazz. Last night, at Cambridge's Regatta Bar, Abercrombie was fully on his game with one of his recent, and one of his best, groups. Joey "what a monster" Baron on drums, Marc Johnson on bass, and Mark Feldman on violin all give and took with Abercrombie in a challenging two hour set of nearly free jazz.

I had the pleasure of seeing Abercrombie with that great Charles Loyd group of a few years ago. Then, as with his own, there was a lot of interplay on stage. So many jazz bands today have fallen into the rut of play the head, take turns on solos, take the head out. No matter how great the solos are, I miss it when the other guys aren't reacting. No worries with Abercrombie & Co. They listen, they react, they even step on each other (and laugh about it).

This outfit has done a couple of albums, one of which I have loved since it came out: Cat & Mouse. That album is notable for the wonderfull interplay between Feldman and Abercrombie. Normally, I like jazz violin about as much as rock acordion. But Feldman has such a sweet tone and finds ways to be rhythmic and discordant without screeching. He and Abercrombie seem to read each other's minds, often engaging in prolific trading, in which first one, then the other takes the lead.

A word must be said about Baron. I saw him with Bill Frisell in the last couple of years and while he played a bit differently, he was equally spectacular. He's one of those guys who combines ferocity with texture. I mean, he plays the crap out of the kit, but he keeps the volume and the fireworks just in check. He's very inventive, playing with everything from his fingertips to all kinds of odd looking drum sticks, all in the name of varying the tone. But he's quite frenetic, always pushing the group, always giving structure to the silences. That combination of drive and texture makes him special. For any jazz with a taste of rock or at least modernity, he's one of the best there is these days.

Abercrombie seemed very comfortable playing to the packed house (on a Tuesday night!) and joked around between several songs. He also joked with Baron while playing. Jazz can often take itself a little too seriously. This night, it was all about playing free and seeing where it takes you.

I can't wait to hear the album.

Pat Metheny + Brad Mehldau = A little less than I'd hoped

When I heard that two of my favorite modern jazz guys were recording and performing together, I was quite excited, but slightly apprehensive. How would Metheny's liquid guitar solos fit with Mehldau's angular, percussive piano?

Uneasily, it seems, is the answer.

With a duets record and a full quartet record now out from the two, and fresh from their show at Boston's Opera House, I have to say that while it's all thoroughly enjoyable, it's also slightly disappointing. They both listen to each other, making adjustments, picking up on each other, but they never seem to find a third place to go that's hipper than either of their home bases.

Maybe that was predictable. Mehldau plays lots of discordant blue notes, Metheny, to my ears, is much more modal. Mehldau is very precise and percussive, Metheny long and legato. Mehldau likes to tweak popular tunes, Metheny writes most of his own.

Still, Metheny has an honorable history as a sideman for plenty of people, which is what this was sort of billed as: Pat plays with Brad's trio. Only Larry Grenadier, the bassist, is just as much a Methenyite as a Bradist, having put in years with Pat.

Throuh their nearly 2.5 hour set, I kept hoping Mehldau would launch into his outstanding version of Paranoid Android. Radiohead's tune would force Metheny out of his comfort zone. Out of their zone, great jazz players often do interesting things (see: Coltrane and Johnny Hartman or Duke Ellington, Miles and all those young cats from the late '70s on). Sadly, we'll never know.

It was more Mehldau who got pressed into service as a comper for Metheny, which he did admirably, if at the expense of his own solos and approach. After the show, I bought the album (Quartet) and Mehldau gets more airtime on it. Still, the chemistry never quite jells, despite lots of great playing all around.

Mehldau is in his mid-30s and has plenty of time to keep growing, which he seems intent on. Maybe playing with Metheny was his idea of connecting with the fusion tradtion, something he's really not done before. But he's shown a lot of ability to experiment and absorb already.

Metheny, who's 52 -- where's he headed? He seems to have fallen into a pattern of trying new instruments, and then finding new music based on that. He's experimented with baritone guitar, the 42-string Pikasso, and of course, his old Ibanez and synth guitars (still no treble on any of them). But musically, you have to wonder.

Don't get me wrong. It was a lot of gorgeous music, and my wife, who hates guitar hero music, liked the show. But I came away feeling it was a missed opportunity for both of them, and more so for Metheny.