It had to happen eventually that someone would re-harmonise ‘Giant Steps’. The switch here is that, while retaining the melody, Adolfo actually simplifies its chords into something quite different in feel, and I like it. The negation of intensity, and its replacement by lyricism, typifies his whole album recorded ‘during the peak of Rio de Janeiro’s summer’, also including an even-8s ‘Naima’ and laid-back versions of Gillespie, Corea, Jarrett and Bill Evans pieces. The three originals are rather anodyne, but the pianist’s delicate strength is also evident behind Saboya, who has made a number of albums and is in fact Adolfo’s daughter. Suggesting a dessicated Astrud Gilberto or even Joyce, her choice of material is excellent (eg Lins’s ‘Velas Içadas’) and Liebman injects more energy into Nascimento’s ‘Tristesse’ and ‘Tarde’. As with Astrud, it would be interesting and perhaps revealing to hear Saboya with a looser, more aggressive accompaniment, but both of these albums impress with their restrained conviction.