It’s a sound built on trust, shared roots, and the kind of musical conversation that only happens when nobody’s trying to prove anything—just listen.
Sunnyside Records
Helio Alves – Piano; Guilherme Monteiro – Guitar; Gili Lopes – Bass; Alex Kautz – Drums
What is it about Brazilian music that musicians everywhere are so attracted to? It’s hard to explain, but there’s something about samba, baião, forró, and Música Popular Brasileira that goes beyond just being music styles – they’re more like these complete worlds of rhythm and feeling. So when four Brazilian musicians end up in New York making music together, you know those influences are going to show up in their sound, blending with American jazz to create something quite fresh and full of character.
That’s the sweet spot the Unity Quartet hits on SAMBA OF SORTS—an album that feels grounded in Brazilian traditions but also open to wherever the music wants to go. Pianist Hélio Alves, guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, bassist Gili Lopes, and drummer Alex Kautz don’t just mash styles together—they move naturally between Brazil and New York jazz, folding one into the other until it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
The group first started playing together in 2021, drawn in by the tight-knit Brazilian music scene in New York and a shared curiosity about where their sound might lead. Regular gigs at Brooklyn’s Bar LunÀtico gave them the time and space to shape something that feels fully their own.
The album opens with Milton Nascimento’s ‘Viola Violar.’ Alves’s piano and Monteiro’s guitar ease into a relaxed groove before the guitar takes the lead. Monteiro’s playing has drawn comparisons to Jim Hall and João Gilberto—he shares their elegance and restraint, but there’s a bit more edge to his tone. Alves follows with a beautifully melodic solo that feels suspended in air—delicate, but emotionally weighty.
Monteiro’s ‘Lucena’ is more expansive and harmonically rich. Piano and guitar move together with a breezy, relaxed feel. Gili Lopes’s bass sings quietly in the background—there’s a calm confidence to his playing. Alves’s lyrical piano solo feels completely natural, like he’s just letting the melody unfold. Monteiro follows with an equally unforced solo—picked notes, light touch, full of air. It’s unmistakably Brazilian, but there’s an easygoing New York jazz feel woven in.
Alves’s ‘Frenzy’ lives up to its name with a faster tempo and fiery rhythmic turns. The piano starts with a simple repeated phrase, then launches into a flurry of notes. Monteiro fires off rapid lines on guitar, while the drums knock out sharp, driving beats over a steady walking bass.
Drummer Alex Kautz’s title track, ‘Samba of Sorts,’ spins a 9/8 groove into something that keeps you just slightly off balance. It’s rooted in samba, but the rhythm moves in unexpected ways. Big, resonant bass notes set the stage before the drums come in with tight rimshots and crisp, clockwork stick work. Guitar and piano trade solos over the shifting beat, keeping that Brazilian feel while pulling the rhythm in new directions.
What makes this album click is how easily everything interweaves. These aren’t simply Brazilian musicians playing jazz, or jazz players adding Brazilian accents—they’re four artists who inhabit that liminal space where both traditions just feel like home. Monteiro’s guitar carries echoes of João Gilberto, while Alves’ piano touch reveals influences of Chick Corea and Bill Evans. Kautz balances Jack DeJohnette-like inventiveness while keeping one foot firmly in samba. And Gili Lopes provides the foundation with a warm, expressive bass tone—always anchoring, never showy.
It’s a sound built on trust, shared roots, and the kind of musical conversation that only happens when nobody’s trying to prove anything—just listen.
