Originally released in 2001, Rique Pantoja’s Live in Los Angeles has now been remastered and made available to all digital streaming platforms by Juan Carlos Quintero’s Moondo Music label. Born in Rio de Janeiro to a musical family, pianist/ composer/arranger Rique Pantoja has performed and recorded with big names in American and Brazilian jazz for over four decades.

From Brazil, Pantoja matriculated at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After several years in Paris and a collaborative project with trumpet player Chet Baker, Pantoja headed back to Brazil where he worked with Ivan Lins, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Milton Nascimento and singer/songwriter Djavan. Pantoja also founded Cama de Gato (Cat’s Cradle), a popular Brazilian instrumental jazz group of the mid-1980s. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 where he has remained very busy composing, arranging and performing music.  

Recorded at the Gallery Theater in Hollywood, Live in Los Angeles also features Southern California-based musicians Steve Tavaglione (sax, flute), Jimmy Earl (bass), Joel Taylor (drums), Cassio Duarte (percussion) and Ricardo Silveira (guitar). The eight Pantoja compositions, ranging from 5 - 12 minutes each, were arranged to give the stellar musicians plenty of opportunities to shine on tunes like “Da Baiana,” about a woman from Bahia and that was built using an Afro-Cuban ijexa rhythm.

Live in Los Angeles opens with the Latin-flavored “Arpoador” (“harpooner” in Portuguese), an evocative song inspired by the small peninsula between Ipanema and Copacabana where whales were often seen. With its bass line and melody, “Julinho” converses between the major and minor. With its genesis from pop tune to toe-tapping samba, “1000 Watts” is a tribute to Ernie Watts, who played on Pantoja’s first album for Warner Bros. 

A soulful blues that breaks into a Brazilian rhythm, “Bebop Kid” is a lesson for learning solfège, application of the sol-fa syllables to a musical scale or melody. With its groove that motivates you to dance a cha-cha,  Pantoja co-wrote “Que Loucura” with his friend, Grammy-nominated Celso Fonseca. “Morena” is a story of a beautiful a dark-skinned brunette walking along a Brazilian beach. Moving between a 7/8 and 6/8 feel , Pantoja wrote ”Pra Lili” for an old friend named Lili.  

Pantoja’s melodic, accessible music belies its depth and complexity. And the musicianship on the album is simply exceptional. The music is as fresh and exciting today as when it was recorded over twenty years ago. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)