It's our version. Barajas' formula seems to work. It's a jazz trio with guitar, sax, bass and a little drum machine they call Guillermo. Another reason the band is so popular, Barajas says, is that they make the people feel comfortable dancing. We're not going to be holding up score cards at the end.
People feel that they are being graded at other clubs.
ONE KEY TO Sound of Brazil's success is the band's authentic sound of Brazil. Founder and Afro-Brazilian percussionist Paulo Torres is a native of Bahia, Brazil where many of the popular songs the group plays originate. Torres recently returned from his homeland where he had spent a month collecting new material. The two newest members have altered the band's sound with a more jazzy approach. Alieksey Vianna, a Brazilian guitar scholarship student at the University of Arizona, recently won a jazz competition.