Review: Jazz Tupiniquim’s Baile Tupi! at The Ellington Jazz Club
Jazz Tupiniquim’s Baile Tupi! at The Ellington Jazz Club
Friday, February 28, 2025
The Ellington notched up another birthday over the weekend. It is now sixteen years since Perth’s premier jazz club first opened its doors. To celebrate, they put on an even more special weekend than usual. Grace Knight graced the stage for the evening spot Friday and Saturday (see the X-Press review), with late-night performances on Friday by Brazilian dance combo Jazz Tupiniquim and on Saturday by original jazz hip-hop band Pareidolia. At dusk on Sunday there was a special birthday party concert by the dynamic divas Ali Bodycoat, Simone Craddock, and Libby Hammer, accompanied by a fine jazz trio: Hanna Kim (piano), Karl Florrisson (bass), and Pete Evans (drums).
Jazz Tupiniquim is an energetic seven-piece band led by guitarist Danilo da Paz and Gypsy-Jazz violinist, keys player, and singer Emily Gelineau. The core quartet, with Dan Ablett on bass and Fabio Macarrão on drums, was formed in late 2023. This was only the second time they have performed with a three-part horn section—their first blast was for Fringe World at Lyric’s Underground last month. For Friday’s show, Anthony Dodos played trombone while Ricki Malet took to the trumpet and Kieran Toye covered the saxaphones and clarinet. For the Fringe show, Sam Timmerman blasted the trumpet, and Tom Greble covered the clarinet/saxes.
The mix of classic Brazilian rhythms with Gypsy Jazz and horns makes for a vibrant night’s music. The band was incredibly tight, jumping in unison from one complex riff to the next, the horns duelling with each other and the violin, then snapping into an airtight harmony. Counterpointed by Ablett’s jogging bass and held in tight multi-rhythm by Macarrão’s spectacular percussion, you couldn’t help but sway to it.
As Gelineau put it when introducing the show, “Although ‘Baile Tupi’ doesn’t have a direct translation, ‘Baile’ means ‘to dance’ and is commonly used as a name for a dancing event—like ‘We are going to the Baile tonight.” Tupi is short for Tupiniquim, the indigenous peoples of Brazil.”
And baile the largely Brazilian audience did. They could not keep to their seats, which was a refreshing change in The Ellington. At their earlier gigs in the club, the tables have been moved out to make for a full dancefloor. This was not possible on Friday given the Club’s packed birthday program but the dancers were not dissuaded. They took to the empty spaces at the side of the stage and the walkway at the back of the room and wove through the gaps between the tables.
Brazilian dancers really put their soul into it but tend to stick to more formal dance moves. Couples sashayed and twirled arm in arm across the floor or, in this case, around the tables. It was infectious.
Making full use of the horns, the show began with the core quartet on stage while, at the back of the room, the horn players struck up a bright, upbeat melody. Wending their way through the crowd, they chose the longest possible route to the stage. It was only when they stepped onto the podium that the rest of the band kicked in. A clever entrance, it effectively united the audience and drew everyone into the music. It also set the scene for the dancing to follow—everyone felt a part of it.
The repertoire was classic Brazilian music in the Forró (‘Fo-ha’) and Choro (‘Cho-ha’) styles composed by the greats of the genre: Gilberto Gil, Hamilton de Holanda, João Donato and Seu Jorge. These names may not be familiar to Australian audiences, but they are to the Brazilian diaspora, who are the mainstay of Jazz Tupiniquim’s audience. On many of the tunes, they were able to sing along, most notably Djavan’s Sina. Gelineau encouraged the non-Brazilians in the audience to simply sing ‘pineapple.’
De Paz and Gelineau have been playing Brazilian music together for some four years. They met in a big band, then formed a duo in which they still perform when not working with their current outfit. They make a formidable couple.
De Paz’s first instrument is the accordion. He was mentored by legendary WA accordionist Cathy Travers. A Brazilian by birth, his skill on the instrument was of such a high standard that it earned him a Distinguished Talent Visa to remain in Australia. It is only in the last five or so years that he has taken up guitar. He now switches between a seven-string Brazilian acoustic and a standard jazz electric guitar. The seven-string is a unique instrument that enables him to play complex bass lines and rhythm parts simultaneously. De Paz is effortless in his mastery of this style.
Emily Gelineau is something of a musical prodigy. She started playing violin at three and a half and the piano at five. At seven, she joined Lyn Wilkins’ Gondwana National Choir based in Sydney and toured with them around the country and overseas. When back in Perth, she studied Gypsy Jazz violin under Charley McCarthy, who introduced her to the music of Steffan Grappelli, a key influence on her style. Jean Luc Ponty is another.
In her mid-teens, Gelineau was awarded an Asia-Pacific Scholarship, which enabled her to jump straight from high school to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she completed a double major in violin performance and screen scores. There is an amazing clip on YouTube of a young Emily performing a Chick Corea tune with her Berklee ensemble. COVID forced her to return to Australia in 2020, where she completed the final year of her five-year course online. Australia’s gain may be America’s loss—had she remained in Boston, she may well have settled into the scene there and never come home.
She has composed a number of fusion tunes for her jazz ensemble but regards herself primarily as an arranger. She and de Paz scored all the arrangements in the Baile Tupi! repertoire.
Although a true blue Aussie girl, Gelineau sings in fluent Portuguese. She only started learning it after teaming up with de Paz. It’s a tongue twister of a language, especially when sung quickly as Jazz Tupiniquim’s repertoire demands. But with her mastery of it, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s her native tongue.
As well as Jazz Tupiniquim, Gelineau is an accompanist for other Perth acts. She regularly performs with Jessie Gordon and Sassafras and featured in Sylvia Cornes’ Leonard Cohen show for Fringe World 2024. It is always a delight to watch her play, but it is only in Baile Tupi! and her jazz ensemble that she takes centre stage and soars to her full height.
This was certainly on display at the Ellington the other night. Everyone marvelled at her energy and enthusiasm as well as her tight leadership of this outstanding band—she directed them from the stage.
Jazz Tupiniquim are currently performing in the inaugural WA Forró Festival. It opened in Scarborough last night (Wednesday, March 5) and continues until Monday, March 10, in Busselton. As guests have travelled from around the state and country to attend, it looks to become another feature on the WA music festival calendar. Jazz Tupiniquim are certain to shine there.
Their spot at The Ellington was a fitting fling for the Club’s weekend-long birthday party. From all reports, the other shows in the program were well attended and equally as well received.
For a history of the Ellington Jazz Club see the X-Press article published for its fifteen birthday celebrations last year.
IAN LILBURNE
Photos by Alan Holbrook
