Return to Ipanema has a strong dose of Brazilian music (along with strong hints of the leader's roots in Cuba), featuring
Paquito D'Rivera co-starring with trumpeter
Claudio Roditi. The octet (which includes tenor saxophonist
Ralph Moore, trombonist
Jay Ashby, and pianist
Danilo Perez) performs two songs apiece from
Lobo,
Antonio Carlos Jobim (including "No More Blues"), and
Roditi, plus
D'Rivera's "To Brenda," an obscurity, and a fresh rendition of "Summertime."
D'Rivera and
Roditi always make for an appealing team, and it is more fun to hear them in a larger group than usual. ~ Scott Yanow