Popular ‘90s Brazilian jazz band Desafinado returns to Spokane for one night only
On Friday, a samba line will snake through the Hamilton Listening Studio, as the nine-member Brazilian jazz group Desafinado plays a Batucada, leading the audience for the first time in almost 20 years, and possibly the last time ever.
“What actually inspired us getting back together was a couple of our members work with the Spokane Symphony, and they have retired this year,” said Gary Edighoffer, band co-leader. “At least one of them was talking about leaving town permanently, moving somewhere. We’ve been talking about the reunion for years and said, ‘Well, we gotta do it before somebody leaves town.’ ”
Desafinado formed in 1995 and was popular in Spokane until they separated in 2006, touring throughout the Northwest. A sign of its time, the band had a self-titled CD released in 2001, and the back jacket features a Hawaiian sunset, the same Edighoffer and his wife, band co-leader Pam Meyer, saw on the trip that inspired Desafinado’s start.
“We heard this fabulous Brazilian guitarist and vocalist performing in one of the outdoor lounges. You know, he wasn’t doing Hawaiian music, he was doing Brazilian music and we’re so, so inspired that when we got home, we decided we have to do this,” Edighoffer said.
At the time, Edighoffer was Hobart’s Jazz Lounge’s music director, and so he decided to organize a couple nights of Brazilian jazz music.
“We brought in about 20 different musicians, a continuously changing roster of people walking across the stage and playing a song or two and then moving on to the next,” Edighoffer explained. “It was such an enormous hit. I think it was the largest crowd Hobart’s ever had. So, we decided that maybe we ought to keep the band together.”
Brazilian jazz is characterized by “beautiful melodies, inspiring rhythms, and wonderful harmonies that form the basis for improvisation” and Edighoffer said it “covers quite a gamut from sultry vocals, you have your sensuous melodies and harmonies and then it turns around on a dime and you’re doing a real dynamic samba that people just wanna jump up and dance to.”
Edighoffer said the bossa nova craze was popularization of Brazilian music in the 1950s and ‘60s, led by musicians such as Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Stan Getz. Desafinado plays the Brazilian music as authentically as possible, while infusing it with jazz elements, Edighoffer said.
Edighoffer plays saxophones, flutes, percussion and Meyer plays flute, percussion, and is the sound engineer. The band also includes percussionist Paul Raymond, who just retired from the Spokane Symphony, Andy Plamondon on trumpet, flugelhorn, and percussion, Dave Stultz with trombone and percussion, Eugene Jablonsky on bass and percussion, Rick Westrick on drums, Paul Landsberg on nylon string guitar and percussion, who is married to vocalist Laura Landsberg.
For Laura, singing in Desafinado had a learning curve. For one, she doesn’t speak Portuguese. In fact, though the band was named for a song by famous bossa nova musician Antônio Carlos Jobim, Edighoffer joked that he didn’t know the word translated to “out of tune,” and by the time they figured it out, it was too late to change it.
“I always feel funny like I’d be like, ‘Are there any people that speak Portuguese in the audience? My apologies, I’m trying my best,’ ” Laura said.
Laura was helped by Raymond’s wife, who is Brazilian.
The Landsbergs are traveling from Nelson to be in the show. Laura said it’s going to be “a gas.” While dancing is not required, it is a common occurrence at a Desafinado show. If you’re lucky, you might even meet more than a dance partner. Edighoffer said he knew of a couple who met dancing at a Desafinado show.
“That was the start of their relationship and they’re still together,” Edighoffer said. “So, we had a good influence on at least two people.”
Laura said she is grateful the band is getting back together, even if for a single night.
“I haven’t seen some of these players for like 20 years and it’s gonna be so much fun to get back together and play,” she said. “The Brazilian music is such uplifting, energetic and beautiful music to play and to get to put the band back together after all these years. It’s just a blessing.”