"Obrigado Dom Um Romão" - "DownBeat" review

Excerpts of the review about "Obrigado Dom Um Romão" published in the November 2008 issue of "DownBeat" magazine, page 84

Peter Scharli Trio Featuring Ithamara Koorax

"Obrigado Dom Um Romao"

TCB 27702

Rating: ***

Ithamara Koorax, from Rio de Janeiro, has one of the loveliest singing voices in creation. Peter Scharli, based in Switzerland, plays as pleasing a trumpet as can found in European jazz. Almost half of their heartfelt Zurich studio tribute to friend Dom Um Romão, who died in 2005 just before the three were to tour, attests the power of beautifully performed Brazilian music.

On "Estate," Koorax casts a spell with her breathy, impeccable control over the Portuguese lyrics; when Schärli solos, it's a concentration of loveliness colored.

Recalled as part of the controversial Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaboration "Quiet Nights," "Aos Pés da Cruz" is another archetype of exquisite style, kept as low-medium emotional pitch by the lissome singer, the trumpeter, guitarist Markus Stalder and string bassist Thomas Durst.

Melody is dear to the heart of Koorax and then the soloing horn player on "Recado Bossa Nova," which ends with Scharli cleverly approximating the percussive sounds Romão might have lent the performance...

- Frank-John Hadley