Saudade, Colour of Love

A collaboration between vocalist Maria Mendes and the Netherlands Metropole Orkest with pianist/composer John Beasley, 2022s 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, 2019s 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 Sinatras 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. Its 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 orchestras 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