Anyone expecting a bland surf across the undulating expanses of bossa nova from this tour, featuring the music of Jobim, would have been rapidly disabused of the notion last Wednesday. This was the old Brazilian idiom filtered much more directly through a jazz sensibility, as confirmed by the switching of such as Felicidade and Corcovado into 4/4 time, to pick the most basic examples. But the harmonic refurbishment of Wave, the guitar-alto line on Corcovado, some of the more adventurous touches from Nielsen's guitar, or, to a lesser extent, Danish reed-man Jan zum Vohrde's alto, also showed it was the bossa addressed from a more modern perspective.
Despite the undoubted quality of the musicians - Nielsen, zum Vohrde (who also played flute and alto flute), Jesper Lundgaard (bass) and Kieran Phillips (drums) - the group took considerable time to settle. In the later stages of the second set, however, the quartet began to give clear indications that, with a half-dozen or so concerts under its collective belt, it will take the music on to a different plane.
Lundgaard was the star of the evening: his virtuoso technique, impeccable intonation and crystal-clear articulation were at the service of a lyrical imagination that never seemed to fail. Nielsen, more prepared to explore further than anyone else, had some especially notable contributions on No More Blues, Waters Of March, Wave and Useless Landscape.
In Clifden tomorrow, Castlebar on Monday, Letterkenny on Tuesday, Mullingar on Wednesday, Antrim on Thursday, Newtownards on Friday, Portstewart on Saturday February 26th and Belfast on Sunday February 27th. For information, phone: 01-6719491