live @ State Theatre 11.19.2000
Before Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto’ set at the State Theatre Sunday night, a DJ spun crisp electronic sounds. It was a fitting warmup, since Ms. Gilberto has fashioned a ingratiating style that merges the kind of pulsing electrobeats of her generation with the graceful bossa nova that the generation of her father ---legendary Brazilian vocalist and composer Joao Gilberto---pioneered.
Working with a skillful four-piece band that took pains to reproduce the smallest percussive details (including using prerecorded beats), Gilberto sang liltingly for 75 minutes, covering the bulk of her recent album “Tanto Tempo”, and delighting a near-capacity crowd. Highlights included a sumptuous reading of the album’s title track and the ethereal lilt of Baden Powell’s classic bossa nova “Samba da Bencao”, both sung in Portuguese. Bebel also rendered “August Day Song” (which she introduced as “the first song I ever wrote”) and the percolating Samba of “Close Your Eyes”, which she sang in English. D.C.’s own Thievery Corporation---the band’s masterminds Eric Hilton and Rob Garza were in attendance---who produced Gilberto’s recording of “Lonely”, got their props as the song was given a frisky workout. Bebel herself proved a delightful presence, eventually coaxing the crowd into filling the dancefloor.
Ultimately, it was easy to see why “Tanto Tempo” has become a favorite of both cutting edge world music heads and lite jazz listeners: Gilberto’s music is soothing and graceful, but pulsing, and devoid of the empty-headedness of much “smooth music”. Her fine set followed very satisfyingly along those lines.
Washington Post, November 2000
