Daniel Santiago On the Way (Adventure Music AM 1025 2).

Daniel Santiago On the Way (Adventure Music AM 1025 2) Hamilton De Holanda Quintet Brasilianos (Adventure Music AM 1026 2) Marcos Amorim Sete Capelas (Adventure Music AM 1024 2) Jovino Santos Neto Roda Carioca (Adventure Music AM 1023 2) Rogerio Botter Malo Prazer Da Espera (RGO004)

It's no surprise to anyone who has followed trends in contemporary instrumental music in recent deeades that Brazil continues to be a major global source of enterprising, truly world-class musicians, composers, and arrangers. Adventure Music is a U.S.-based label that works in close harmony with other likeminded record companies in Brazil to document the creative output of talented newcomers and established artists who deserve wider recognition.

Acoustic guitarist and composer Daniel Santiago's On the Way is typical of the label's approach, which is to allow performers the greatest possible latitude in presenting their art. The results are uniformly fresh and invigorating. In Santiago's case, the young guitarist from Brasilia plays a nine-track program of original works in which such traditional rhythmic references as samba, choro, and bossa nova, so common in most Brazilian recordings, are largely set aside as Santiago, bassist Andre Vasconcellos, and drummer Marcio Bahia create their own very personal mood. Sometimes it is serene, inviting visual associations with the vast landscape of Brazil's interior, and sometimes it overflows with rhythmic energy and instrumental virtuosity, as it does on "Tribute to Baden," in recognition of one of bis inspirations, the late guitarist Baden Powell. Santiago impresses as a composer and instrumentalist whose classically rooted guitar technique is riveting.

Santiago, Vasconcellos, and Bahia join harmonica player Gabriel Grossi and mandolin sensation Hamilton de Holanda on Holanda's Brasilianos. The steely tone of the leader's ten-string mandolin and his spry articulations, creating charming interplay with Santiago's guitar and Grossi's harmonica, shape the aural focus of this charming program of thirteen originals by De Holanda. Such traditional rhythms as Afrosamba and baiao are also enthusiastically embraced, although the overall mood is one of exploration--incorporating time-honored styles while searching for the next music frontier. The quintet's avant-garde leanings insure a distinctive personality.

Guitarist and composer Marcos Amorim's Sete Capelas (Seven Chapels) wears its outright jazz leanings comfortably, although there is no mistaking the deep Brazilian roots that range through each of the leader's ten self-composed tracks. On a variety of both electric and acoustic guitars, sometimes overdubbed, Amorim displays a range of influences that extend from Pat Metheny to Baden Powell and such contemporary Brazilian artists as Egberto Gismonti and Ricardo Silveira as he lays down heavenly chords topped off with inquisitive improvisational forays. The presence of two legendary Brazilian jazz artists, drummer Robertinho Silva and flutist Nivaldo Ornelas, adds depth and extra sheen to the session, which is, from beginning to end, totally captivating.

Roda Carioca (Rio Circle) features keyboardist Jovino Santos Neto in a jazzy yet tradition-steeped session that was recorded in a small studio in one of Rio's most historic neighborhoods, Santa Teresa. With bassist Rogerio Botter Maio and drummer Marcio Bahia at the center, the circle expands on different tracks to incorporate a number of celebrated guest musicians, including Brazil's legendary Hermeto Pascoal, with whom Santos Neto performed for fifteen years, guitarist Amorim, vocalist Joyce, and members of the De Holanda Quintet. The leader's perky "Estrela do Mar" (Starfish) radiates a carefree and spontaneous attitude, underpinned by finely crafted arrangements and virtuosic performances. The album is a study in what makes Brazilian music so inherently appealing.

Bassist and composer Botter Maio casts a somewhat broader stylistic net on his self-produced Prazer da Espera, a session that sports many of the sophisticated elements that began popping up in Brazilian music in the post--bossa nova years of the 1970s and 1980s. The leader's talents as a composer and arranger reign here, as he incorporates string quartets, vocal choruses, and an effective blend of guest singers and instrumentalists to create an inviting range of orchestral colors and textures. On some tracks, there's the nice retro touch of the Fender Rhodes electric piano, a trademark sound of the 1970s. The delectable, chamber jazz-style blend of clarinet, French horn, and harmonica illuminate "Cerne," which features guest woodwind player Nailor de Azevedo "Proveta." There's much to relish and contemplate on this uncommonly rewarding session.

A regular contributor to Americas, Mark Holston is a musician and journalist.