Tom McDermott and his frequent partner Evan Christopher are two of the most creative and forward looking jazz musicians in New Orleans. To call Evan Christopher a world class jazz clarinetist is an understatement. He virtually defines the class, although there are a few players here in New Orleans who just might want to challenge that viewpoint! McDermott is a superlative traditional pianist, but he prefers to focus his creative energies on composition.

It is some 20 years now since the well traveled Mr. McDermott first started hearing, then playing, and then creating Brazilian choros. The choro is generally defined as a combination of African, Native Indian and Portuguese music, just one of several types that come to us from Brazil. The samba and bossa nova are two related but different genres. All of them have something of a jazz feel. What makes the choro unique though, is that it goes back as far as the 1870s, but is still evolving today.

Early choros have been compared to American ragtime. Some of the pieces on this CD emphasize that relationship, including three Scott Joplin rags.

What makes this CD different, and you’ll know it from the very first cut onward, is the Brazilian rhythm section; three young musicians playing respectively a tambourine related percussion instrument known as the pandeiro, a bandolim, which is the Portuguese version of a mandolin, and a seven string guitar, which has become increasingly popular with guitarists in general and especially with modern jazzmen.

The Brazilian musicians are not the only additions to this CD that make the sounds so different. There is also Rick Trolsen on trombone, and, for one cut each, Ray Moore on flute, and Matt Perrine on tuba.

Four of the cuts here, two Joplin rags and two McDermott choros, are also on Danza but this is hardly a matter of duplication. It is highly instructive as well as enjoyable to note the differences. The Joplin pieces are totally transformed by the Brazilian rhythms. Rick Trolsen, from the way he breezes in on the very first cut, McDermott’s “Casa Denise,” gives these sides a distinctive modern jazz flavor. When I heard him, I couldn’t help but think of trombonists Bill Harris on Woody Herman’s Latin tinged “Bijou.” It was interesting to learn that Rick’s background includes a stint with what was then known as the Woody Herman Band.

The most unusual jazz link here though, is Jelly Roll Morton’s “Sweetheart of Mine,” featuring a lovely flute solo by Ray Moore. The melody is actually the “C” strain of Morton’s “Froggie Moore Rag,” which, when it was recorded by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in 1923, provided the second recorded solo in history of a young Louis Armstrong. (His first, “Chimes Blues,” was done just the day before.)

I think it’s fair to say that with this CD, McDermott and Christopher have thoroughly nailed down the choro sound which has captivated them for so long.