Suggest Me Some Brazil

[xybert]

I don't know how well known Delia Fischer is - I stumbled on her in one of those if you liked that you might like this connections. Don't recall reading about her elsewhere. I've been enjoying these of late:

Largely acoustic Brazilian with a strong aroma of the rainforest. Egberto Gismonti and Hermeto Pascoal guest (and the first is dedicated to Gismonti). Recommended if you like Brazilian song and the sound world of those to wonderful musicians.

http://musicabrasileira.org/delia-fischer-presente/

Listening to Presente on Spotify now. Beautiful music, thanks for posting.

[Bluesnik]

I would recommend Joao Donato. Specially his trio albums as pianist (he also played a bit of accordion in his beginnings) Muito a vontade and A bossa muito moderna. I rediscovered him the other day.

And by the way another personal favorite here, though you will also know him, is Jorge Ben. Specially Sacundin ben samba, Samba esquema novo and his seventies masterwork Africa Brasil.

[Jim R]

I hadn't seen this in awhile, and don't recall if it's been shared around here, and it's fabulous, so...

[Jim R]

I was listening to this today, and I'm not sure it's been mentioned here (or even on these forums, excepting the "What are you listening to..." thread).

Always been a big fan of Einhorn, and also Claudio Roditi.

Nice review here: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/06/kenny-barron-brazilian-knights.html

[jazzbo]

I bought this one on amazon for .o1 plus shipping and didn't know what to expect. Has a lot of versions that I don't have at all elsewhere, so a good find!

[Brad]

I was listening to this today, and I'm not sure it's been mentioned here (or even on these forums, excepting the "What are you listening to..." thread).

Always been a big fan of Einhorn, and also Claudio Roditi.

Nice review here: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/06/kenny-barron-brazilian-knights.html

Agreed. This is a nice album. The harmonica works well and helps to create a definite mood.

[A Lark Ascending]

Four of interest which I'm going to pounce on when my e-music account refreshes at any moment:

[skeith]

I recently picked up Romero Lubambo's album So Brazilian Essence - it's solo guitar with him playing a number of bossa nova classics plus some other stuff. I like it very much.

Edited April 13, 2015 by skeith

[jazzbo]

Some great reissues coming at budget prices!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.cat_id=UA-09&order=rel&range.rel=2015%2F06%2F10%2C2015%2F06%2F10&page=2

[soulpope]

Some great reissues coming at budget prices!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.cat_id=UA-09&order=rel&range.rel=2015%2F06%2F10%2C2015%2F06%2F10&page=2

lon, as you seem to quite into brasilian music, what would be your top five picks out of that reissue series - pls with a short reasoning, if possible.....

[jazzbo]

Not much time at the moment. . . will ponder and reply when I can.

[jazzbo]

Some great reissues coming at budget prices!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.cat_id=UA-09&order=rel&range.rel=2015%2F06%2F10%2C2015%2F06%2F10&page=2

lon, as you seem to quite into brasilian music, what would be your top five picks out of that reissue series - pls with a short reasoning, if possible.....

Okay, first off: "Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo." Wonderful.

"Em Formal" by Bossa Tres is very good, just great swinging.

"Tamba Trio" by Tamba Trio is also a favorite.

"Musica Livre de Hermeto Pascoal" . . . rich and fascinating music.

"India" by Gal Costa. Great program of her music.

[Jim R]

Some great reissues coming at budget prices!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.cat_id=UA-09&order=rel&range.rel=2015%2F06%2F10%2C2015%2F06%2F10&page=2

Wow, a great list, and fantastic prices indeed.

Quite a diverse mix of artists and eras there. Hard to recommend to someone from that many titles without knowing their tastes, but Lon's choices are a nice cross section.

The big names are big names for a reason, but there are also some relatively obscure artists and bands there which I think are outstanding. Os Gatos (I'd recommend either or both albums) are an example from the classic Bossa era. Some beautiful and haunting melodies, and the wonderful harmonica of Mauricio Einhorn, if you like that sort of thing.

I also love the early Marcos Valle albums "Samba Demais" and "O Compositor E O Cantor"; and Carlos Lyra's "Bossa Nova" is another favorite.

[soulpope]

@ Lon and Jim R :

Thanks for your feedback .... any additional hint/preference would come highly appreciated ......

[seeline]

I would go for the re-presses of the João Gilberto discs, also all the title by Joyce, Hermeto Pasocal, and Edu Lobo, and the Radamés Gnattali Sexteto, as well as the early Gilberto Gil titles and Caetano's Livro, if I didn't have them already.

But those picks reflect my tastes, which are as idiosyncratic as the next person's. The JG titles can be hard to find, ditto for Hermeto's Festa dos Deuses and some of the Edu Lobo dics. Radamés G's albums are reissued only rarely, and he was an important writer/arranger who isn't nearly as well known as he should be.

Caetano's discography is fascinating, but he has this tendency to veer from one extreme to another, and always has done. Livro is probably my favorite, along with Circulado Vivo Live. (Which is not one of the reissues at the link, unfortunately.)

If you ever do see it, the DVD of his live show for Livro (titled Prenda Minha) is well worth the money. But don't expect him to be playing songs from the album - he didn't want any of that on the DVD. (yeah, he can be a bit much sometimes.) I have been told by folks in the know that the Live in Bahia DVD is also very good.

Edited April 28, 2015 by seeline

[soulpope]

I would go for the re-presses of the João Gilberto discs, also all the title by Joyce, Hermeto Pasocal, and Edu Lobo, and the Radamés Gnattali Sexteto, as well as the early Gilberto Gil titles and Caetano's Livro, if I didn't have them already.

But those picks reflect my tastes, which are as idiosyncratic as the next person's. The JG titles can be hard to find, ditto for Hermeto's Festa dos Deuses and some of the Edu Lobo dics. Radamés G's albums are reissued only rarely, and he was an important writer/arranger who isn't nearly as well known as he should be.

Caetano's discography is fascinating, but he has this tendency to veer from one extreme to another, and always has done. Livro is probably my favorite, along with Circulado Vivo Live. (Which is not one of the reissues at the link, unfortunately.)

If you ever do see it, the DVD of his live show for Livro (titled Prenda Minha) is well worth the money. But don't expect him to be playing songs from the album - he didn't want any of that on the DVD. (yeah, he can be a bit much sometimes.) I have been told by folks in the know that the Live in Bahia DVD is also very good.

Thnx for the feedback ....

[paul secor]

NY Times article on Carlos Lyra:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/arts/music/carlos-lyra-a-pioneer-of-bossa-nova-reintroduces-himself.html

[uli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Fsipr-gHE

[A Lark Ascending]

Marvellous disc. As mentioned elsewhere I attended a concert of Welsh Brazilian music last night and the solo piano Pixinguinha number really caught my ears. Luckily this was lying waiting on e-music. Will now have to find a suitable overview of the man himself. 

[seeline]

Lark, there isn't one, at least, not one that is in print, but you could start with some of the Fremeaux comps of early 20th c. Brazilian music and go from there. I would not recommend buying any of the recent reissues of his late-in-life albums, because they don't really show the breadth of his writing, arranging and playing and are somewhat hampered by arrangements that are a bit, well, weird.

One thing that's difficult to assess is the quality of his playing on his 1st instrument, the flute, if only because there's relatively little of it available. That has a great deal to do with his decades-long association with flautist/bandleader Benedito Lacerda, who insisted that Pixinguinha play alto sax in his band. Since P. needed a steady income, that happened.

 

Edited September 2, 2015 by seeline

[A Lark Ascending]

Lark, there isn't one, at least, not one that is in print, but you could start with some of the Fremeaux comps of early 20th c. Brazilian music and go from there. I would not recommend buying any of the recent reissues of his late-in-life albums, because they don't really show the breadth of his writing, arranging and playing and are somewhat hampered by arrangements that are a bit, well, weird.

One thing that's difficult to assess is the quality of his playing on his 1st instrument, the flute, if only because there's relatively little of it available. That has a great deal to do with his decades-long association with flautist/bandleader Benedito Lacerda, who insisted that Pixinguinha play alto sax in his band. Since P. needed a steady income, that happened.

 

Thanks for that info, Seeline. And good to see you are still popping in here every now and then. Your guidance on music from Brazil was invaluable a few years back.

I very much enjoyed listening to the Fremeaux compilation 'Choro 1906-47' the other day on Spotify. Another good one there was:

Cazes was someone you pointed me towards some years ago. Though I couldn't get beyond a couple of tracks on "Eletropixinguinha Xxi" - the cheesy keyboards and beats had me running for the hills. I'm all for experimenting with electric instruments but really struggle with 'beats'. 

Much more of this music is readily available by download and streaming now. Just a pity there is no English language website that can act as a guide to what has been made and what is emerging. I tend to use the Joe Sixpack one which can be helpful; and the Latin Jazz Network site which is a bit hit and miss but can alert to current releases. 

(Nice to see Lisa Knapp's 'Shipping News' on your site!)

Edited September 3, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[jazzbo]

  found this as a Japanese reissue lately and love it. The amazing Hermeto Pascoal plays piano and flute and does the arranging.