EMBRACEABLE BRAZIL
STREET DATE October 10, 2025
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Drummer Tom Cohen’s lifelong love affair with bossa nova music culminates with the release of Embraceable Brazil on Versa Records. More than a decade in the making, Cohen’s sixth album features a panoply of creative, able-bodied musicians in various combinations—with 20 American and Brazilian talents, including Filo Machado, Chico Pinheiro,, Larry McKenna and John Swana—adding up to a stunning rainbow array of colors, textures, and interpretations in the bossa/samba mode.
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Rave Reviews​
The Jazz Page
Tom Cohen -"Embraceable Brazil"
A deeply personal reimaging​
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January 2026
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Embraceable Brazil from veteran Philadelphia drummer Tom Cohen offers not merely a tribute but a deeply personal reimagining of the bossa nova tradition, weaving together American jazz sensibility and Brazilian spirit. Cohen anchors the ensemble, which includes wonderful contributions from pianist Cidinho Teixeira and bassist Itaiguara Brandão, John Swana on electronics, and Edson da Silva Café on percussion. Vocalist Barbara Mendes brings an intimate lyrical presence, joined by Larry McKenna on tenor saxophone, Rob Curto on accordion, and guitarist Orlando Haddad in rotating configurations. The repertoire draws from luminaries such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento, Toninho Horta, and Chico Buarque, with Cohen adapting non-Brazilian works by Pat Martino and Carly Simon into his own samba-flavored style. The result is a richly detailed, thoughtful album that delivers warm cross-cultural sophistication.​​
Jazz Journal Magazine
Tom Cohen -"Embraceable Brazil"
More than a simple homage​
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January 18, 2026
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Surely bossa nova is old news, right? Wrong. Tom Cohen’s Embraceable Brazil keeps the traditional going while giving it a gentle update as well. The Philadelphia-based drummer clearly understands the style. His approach is more than a simple homage. The music moves with ease and an assurance that comes with age and maturity. Without falling into the tropes of being background or house music, the release serves as a reminder that some sounds never go out of style.
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The Reviewer - Konstantin N. Rega
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Jazz Journal Magazine - London, UK
Tom Cohen -"Embraceable Brazil"
More than a simple homage​
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January 18, 2026
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Surely bossa nova is old news, right? Wrong. Tom Cohen’s Embraceable Brazil keeps the traditional going while giving it a gentle update as well. The Philadelphia-based drummer clearly understands the style. His approach is more than a simple homage. The music moves with ease and an assurance that comes with age and maturity. Without falling into the tropes of being background or house music, the release serves as a reminder that some sounds never go out of style.
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The Reviewer - Konstantin N. Rega
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Downbeat FEATURE ARTICLE
Release of "Embraceable Brazil"
Listen to Preview and/or Buy​
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January 2026
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Like palm trees in the breeze, the newest record from Philadelphia-based drummer Tom Cohen is a subdued delight, highlighting his deep ties to Brazil’s music scene and study of bossa nova. Embraceable Brazil marks Cohen’s first album of Brazilian repertoire, but he has adored its blend of Jazz and samba since he was a child growing up in Newark, New Jersey. As it highlights authentic Brazilian chops and inspired renditions of classics, Embraceable Brazil is both a reverent and refreshing take on this beloved musical tradition.
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Embraceable Brazil Album Release
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Modern Drummer Magazine
Release of "Embraceable Brazil"
Listen to Preview and/or Buy​
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December 2025
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Modern Drummer is spotlighting new recordings that have the drums at the center of their sound. These recordings might be drummer-led, or just include a high-quality, special, or unique drumming and musical performance from the drummer and/or musicians in the band. This column is not restricted to only recordings, we will also be spotlighting new books and DVD’s that are being released. We encourage our readers to listen to the recordings that inspire them and keep looking for new musical avenues to explore. You’ll never know what new music, or new older music, you might find inspiring! Listen and learn!
Philadelphia based drummer Tom Cohen has put together a very nice Brazilian themed jazz record. But he is not just using common Brazilian standards as schtick. He is playing lesser-known compositions by Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal, Toninho Horta, Chico Buarque, and augmenting them with cool arrangements of Carly Simon’s “You’re so Vain” and Pat Martino’s rarely played “Joyous Lake.” Bassists Itaiguara Brandao and Sergio Brandao help keep the grooves light and airy, as does vocalist Barbara Mendes. Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna turns in a beautiful solo on one of the best versions of “The Girl from Ipanema” that I have heard in recent history (thanks to Barbara Mendes.) John Swana’s EVI is a nice contemporary touch on five tracks, as is Chris Farr’s tenor sax solo on “Brigas Nunca Mais.” But it is Cohen’s grooves and arrangements that make it all possible. Check out Cohen’s playing and groove on “Bye Bye Brazil.” This is a very good recording!
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Jazz Time
Release of "Embracable Brazil" Versa Records​
Three Sleeper Record from 2025
Countless albums get overlooked at year’s end; here’s a small step toward redressing the imbalance.
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December 16, 2025
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To know Philadelphia drummer Tom Cohen is to love him and his dedication to his jazzy home team: players such as saxophonist Odean Pope, pianists Orrin Evans and Uri Caine, or the holy trio of Hammond B3 late-greats Shirley Scott, Richard “Groove” Holmes and Joey DeFrancesco. While rude post-bop and uneasy free jazz have been Cohen’s drug of choice for most of his career, it is the sounds of Brazil — sauntering bossa nova, quietly complex Afro-influenced musicality — that gets him highest on Embraceable Brazil, released this fall.
Cohen plays the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta, the latter most lovingly represented by “Aquelas Coisas Todas” and featuring the haunting wife-husband singing team of Patricia King and Orlando Haddad from the long-running Philly-en-Brazil ensemble Minas. Along with the sparer likes of “Bye Bye Brasil,” with its highwire-taut piano groove, Cohen brings the funky, sexy singer-songwriter ’70s vibe to his Brazilian table-scape with a deeply hypnotic version of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” For an album touching on so many familiars — a version of “The Girl from Ipanema,” oddly and uniquely modulated, featuring vocalist Barbara Mendes — Tom Cohen’s Embraceable Brazil takes the listener away the tradition and into something tremblingly new. — A.D. Amorosi
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