A collaboration between vocalist
Maria Mendes and the Netherlands'
Metropole Orkest with pianist/composer
John Beasley, 2022's
Saudade, Colour of Love is a gorgeous Brazilian-inspired jazz production. Born in Portugal and based in the Netherlands for over a decade,
Mendes brings a worldly sophistication to her vocal jazz. It was that sophistication that garnered her and
Beasley a Latin Grammy nomination for their previous collaboration, 2019's
Close to Me.
Saudade, Colour of Love is very much a spiritual companion piece to its predecessor as
Mendes and
Beasley deftly weave together Portuguese fado, bossa nova, and expansive symphonic jazz arrangements. Vocally,
Mendes has a pitch-perfect style, marked by a warm resonance, bright articulation, and endless lyricism that she punctuates with forays into improvisational vocalese. Tracks like the opening "Com Que Voz" and "Tudo Isto E Fado" have the lush, swinging warmth of
Frank Sinatra's 1960s albums with arranger
Nelson Riddle. But whereas
Sinatra would sink into a song with his light baritone,
Mendes soars, lilting birdlike over a verse before rising skyward with a tremulous accent. It's a style she fully embraces on the kinetic Latin number "Verdes Anos," diving and fluttering with falsetto vocalese improvisations against a shimmering piano and the orchestra's vibrating strings. Elsewhere, we get the fusion-esque "Quando Eu Era Pequenina" with its muted, alien horn lines and the equally infectious Tropicalia-sounding "Meu Pobre Capitao," both of which evoke the vibrant, stylistically cross-pollinated '70s work of artists like
Caetano Veloso and
Gal Costa. ~ Matt Collar
![Space Is the Place [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Deluxe Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0090771826725_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Space Is the Place [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Deluxe Edition]")
