Daniel Santiago: On the Way

Daniel Santiago
On the Way
Brasilianos
2006-07-11

This 27-year-old Brazilian guitarist has chops to spare and some very talented friends; if it wasn’t only 35 minutes long, one could well describe On the Way as “jam-packed” wth great Rio-based jazz music. The rest of his trio — André Vasconcellos on bass and Márcio Bahia on drums — is skillful but understated on tunes like “Viewpoint” and “Horta & Guinga”, but they really get funky on the six-minute burner “Tribute to Baden” (for master guitarist Baden Powell), where Bahia makes his kit sound like a hyperactive drum machine. But the tracks where Santiago plays solo, while extremely beautiful, might be too mellow for short attention span U.S. people, so you might want to ready yourself with some tasty wine and soft lights first.

RATING 6 / 10