With the release of Nu Brasil, Sergio Pereira’s ZOHO debut and follow-up to his well-received 2016 set Swingando, the Rio native and longtime NYC resident establishes himself as the Quincy Jones of Brazilian music, overseeing an expansive array of musicians and vocalists (and one rapper, Davin Malloy) from all across the globe as they bring his 10 polyrhythmic reflections of homeland and adopted home to life.
Poring over the guest list – which includes natives of Spain, Cuba, France and Brazil – and figuring out who interacts with who when is almost as frolicsome as listening to Pereira’s brisk, breezy melodic lines. They jaunt from New York (the gently introspective, classically tinged “East River”) to the lively shores of “Arpordor” and mood swing dynamically from the danceable harmonica-guitar jam “Sambinhato to seductively inviting mid-tempo gems like “14 Clicks Away” and the waltz “Greta.” As per its title, Nu Brasil captures the many rhythmic and harmonic essences of Pereira’s home as envisioned through the muses of a true global music community.