The First Lady of Brazilian Jazz at the MCA

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 31, 2009 3:00PM

This Saturday night, the Brazilian bossa nova master Leny Andrade and her trio will perform at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Andrade has been likened to Ella Fitzgerald, a comparison that goes beyond a slight physical resemblance and scatting abilities (which rival those of Ms. Fitzgerald). Her voice, although rounder and deeper, has a similar breathy, care-free quality combined with scary pitch accuracy.

The first half of the concert will be performed by Chicago's own eighth blackbird, a resident ensemble of the University of Chicago's Contempo group. One of the best new music ensembles making the rounds these days, eighth blackbird plays most of their pieces from memory, allowing them to move around the stage while playing. The end result is something that sounds like a top-notch contemporary chamber group but looks more like a rock band. They'll play the Chicago premieres of works by Donald Crockett and Cambodian-American Chinary Ung, and a jazz-flavored duet for bass clarinet and baritone sax by Lee Hyla.

Grab your tickets soon; there aren't many left.

MCA, 220 E. Chicago, April 4 at 7:30 p.m., $25, $20 MCA members, tickets available online