Giants of Cuban, Brazilian Music Share Royce Hall Stage

It seemed like an intriguing idea to book Cuba’s Jesus “Chucho” Valdes on the same bill with Brazil’s Ivan Lins. Different in style, substance and language, they nonetheless represent aspects of the enormous, far-reaching variety of Latin music. And both, in their own way, have reciprocated the influence of jazz by producing music that in turn has impacted American artists.

But the duo’s concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall Thursday night didn’t quite deliver as expected. Valdes, opening the show with his quartet, appeared content to offer a busy, dance rhythm-oriented set. Fingers flying, he scoured the keyboard in search of notes, pouring his music out in great, urgent sweeps of primary colors. And when he suddenly shifted his emphasis from multi-note dexterity to irresistible, foot-tapping tumbao--the rhythm line of traditional Cuban son--it’s a wonder the audience wasn’t dancing in the aisles.

It was powerful stuff, as it always is with Valdes. At 6-feet-6, he is a dominating presence on the bandstand, both physically and musically, and he is fully capable of making even the most insubstantial, repetitious montuna come to life.

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But Valdes is no longer a stranger to American audiences, and his fairly frequent Southern California appearances have established a standard of probing, musical adventurousness that rarely surfaced on this night.

Singer-pianist Lins, in contrast to Valdes’ rhythmic high voltage, started his set slowly, with little sense of musical urgency. In those laid-back moments it was possible to clearly hear the lush harmonies--rich with suspended chords and unexpected modulations--that have made his music so attractive to jazz players.

But it wasn’t until his lengthy set was nearly concluded that Lins’ sweeping romanticism became balanced by a more compelling sense of swing. Accompanied by his trio, he moved subtly through rhythms that ranged from sambas and choros to a Brazilian take on the venerable schottishe, finally finding the appropriate support for his soaring melodies.

As with Valdes, it was not--in the overall lexicon of Lins’ performances--an especially memorable outing. But both artists are always worth hearing. Momentary inadequacies aside, they are among the great treasures of contemporary music.