Adolfo's Masters; Art-Inspired Shaw - Bob Stewart

Pianist Antonio Adolfo grew up in a musical family in Rio de Janeiro and was a professional musician by age 17. His teachers included Eumir Deodato and the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During the '60s he led his own trio and toured with singers Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. His compositions have been recorded by the likes of Sergio Mendes, Stevie Wonder, Herb Alpert and Earl Klugh. And a musician and arranger, he's released more that a dozen albums under his name. For his new CD -- "Finas Misturas (Fine Mixtures)" -- Adolfo combines a handful of originals with the compositions of some of his favorite jazz masters, including John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans.

Hailed internationally for his work performing and touring both as a leader and as a long-standing member of the Roy Haynes Quartet (since 2005) and the Mingus Big Band (since 2000), saxophonist Jaleel Shaw is heard at the helm of his current quartet on "The Soundtrack of Things to Come." Some of the music for the disc was written after the Rubin and Brooklyn Museums in New York commissioned Shaw in 2010 to compose music based on artwork in their collections. Other pieces were specifically composed with his new quartet in mind, with recent life experiences both sad and joyous as inspiration.