Born and raised in Macaé, Brazil, Vanderlei Pereira began playing drums professionally when he was 15. He earned his degree from the Academia de Música Lorenzo Fernandes in Rio de Janeiro and performed with the prestigious Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira. As a result of inherited retinitis pigmentosa, he became blind in his early thirties. While he could no longer work as a classical musician (since it requires reading), he did not let his loss of sight stop him, and he concentrated on his work as a top jazz and samba drummer. After moving to New York, Pereira became a greatly in-demand drummer on the Brazilian jazz scene and earned a degree in Jazz Studies from the Mannes College of Music. He moved to New York in 1988, quickly becoming an in-demand session drummer for the Brazilian music scene, but it has taken until now for him to become a bandleader and this is his debut album in that respect.

Brazilian music is all about rhythm, with the drums playing an incredibly important tole, and here he is all over the kit, providing the drive and groove which the band sit into. Different instruments take the melodic lead, from piano to horns, but probably the most important are the wordless scat vocals of Susan Pereira who definitely enables the band to find their own sound. This really comes to the fore with “Chapéu Palheta (Straw Hat)” which has some wonderfully complex runs, with voice and instruments as well. As one would expect from Brazilian music, this is full of space, is Summery and light, designed to make people smile and to get everyone dancing, and in that regard, this works very well indeed. There are a few times when it falls into background and muzak, but for the most part this works very well indeed.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://vanderleipereira.com/
https://www.jazzheads.com/