“O samba carioca como ele é todo lindo, cheio de graça e simplicidade”. Assim termina o texto de Herminio Bello de Carvalho sobre o disco “Samba na Madrugada” (1968), impresso no encarte do LP. O álbum, que foi lançado em 1966 com o nome “Na Madrugada”, une dois mestres do samba, Paulinho da Viola e Elton Medeiros. Esse importante registro da música nacional volta às lojas esse ano pela coleção “Clássicos em Vinil”, da Polysom, em vinil de 180 gramas. O disco traz 11 faixas, assinadas uma parte por Paulinho da Viola e outra por Elton Medeiros. Ambos contaram com grandes nomes nas composições, entre eles Candeia, Casquinha, Zé Keti e Cartola. Entre os sucessos, ora interpretado por um, ora por outro, estão “Minhas Madrugadas”, “O Sol Nascerá”, “Mascarada” e “Arvoredo”.

A classic Pascoal mix of fine Luso-jazz playing, elegant moments of more traditional modes (as in a pretty song with fine accordion), and various avant-gardisms, new wave-derived and more purely personal (Pascoal even samples Brazilian radio football commentators in a pair of less-than-a-minute cuts, drawing parallels between the music at hand and the announcers' narration of the games). Far more adventurous than Nascimentos and such, it still has a very solid base of excellent musicianship.

Gismonti has been amazingly prolific in making many great albums from early 70's up to mid 90's. Typically, his music is somewhat "rough" but very powerfull, emotive, rich, risky and bold during all the 70's. It is mostly acoustic work with many Gismonti's vocals too. It is a little difficult to access because of the complexity; but once you are in, it will stay with you forever. Most of this earlier work is under EMI or lately reissued under Gimsonti's CARMO labels.

Chico Buarque's fifth album for Philips is a classic, where nearly all the songs became hits. Buarque was featured in an acoustic setting, almost completely aloof from the tropicália movement (the courageous orchestration of Construção is very reminiscent of the influential work by Rogério Duprat). He delved into the Brazilian tradition of sambas and romantic or doleful songs, coming up with "Deus Lhe Pague" and "Construção," both having strong lyrics subliminally criticizing the military dictatorship; "Cotidiano," existentially thematic, revolving around the man-woman relationship routine; "Olha Maria" (written with Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes), a sad separation farewell; "Samba de Orly," a reference to the French airport and city that became paradigms of the exiled Brazilians; "Valsinha," a beautiful love story; and other immortal songs in which the genius of the composer meets sensitively and reverently the heart of the Brazilian feel.

This two-CD sampler is most highly recommended for listeners not familiar with Stan Getz's recordings of the 1950s and '60s. Starting with a version of "Stella by Starlight" that co-stars guitarist Jimmy Raney, this set matches Getz's cool tenor with such artists as trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Conte Candoli, trombonist J.J. Johnson, baritonist Gerry Mulligan, pianists Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Chick Corea, valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and vibraphonist Gary Burton. Also included are his two main bossa nova hits "Desafinado" and "The Girl from Ipanema" along with a couple of tracks from Getz's highly-rated Focus album. It's a fine overview of the great tenor's middle years.

With Mundo Civilizado, downtown denizen Arto Lindsay is probably the first person to successfully integrate the sounds of techno and drum'n'bass into an already established pop music style. Others, notably David Bowie, have tried to do something similar, but although Bowie's attempt in particular was more successful than most critics give him credit for, it never sounded as natural and seamless as Lindsay's. That the former king of skronk guitar was able to achieve such a fusion while singing in Portuguese is even more impressive. Highlights include the funky female worship of "Q Samba" and the scattered herky-jerk of "Complicity" (which features the deathless couplet "Complicity, unconscious wit/Borders without borders under eyebrows"). His taste in covers is a bit more suspect – he brings as little to Prince's material as you'd expect, but is surprisingly more adept with Al Green's "Simply Beautiful." Overall, this one's a solid winner, if not quite a classic.

Gilberto Gil - Fé Na Festa (2010) {EmArcy-Universal 0602527410555}
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© 2010 Geléia Geral / EmArcy / Universal | 0602527410555
Jazz / Brazilian Jazz / Música popular brasileira / Brazilian Traditions / Brazilian Pop

Ten years after the live album São João Vivo on the same topic, Gilberto Gil again celebrates June's popular saints festivities on the buoyant Fé na Festa. Such festivities were brought from Portugal and became an important part of Brazilian culture, especially the cult of São João (Saint John) in the northeast region. The music associated with these festivities is typically performed with instruments brought by (or derived from) the Portuguese colons, such as the accordion, violin, triangle, cavaquinho, and sanfona. While Gilberto Gil has an international reputation as a musical revolutionary, thank to his tropicalista origins, he is also a superb classicist, as his many projects in Brazilian folk music can attest.

Cartola - Cartola (1974) {EMI–Discos Marcus Pereira 472569 2 rel 2005}
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© 1974, 2005 Discos Marcus Pereira / EMI Music Brazil | 472569 2
Latin / Brazilian Traditions / Samba / Brazilian Pop

Nearly 50 years after beginning his career, Cartola, the maestro of the samba, released his first album, and it exudes the quiet grace and rural charm that the samba featured decades before it was modernized later in the century. Of course, all the songs were written by Cartola himself (just 12 of the hundreds he composed), and most are by him alone. Those with limited knowledge of Brazilian music will find Cartola's vocal style closest to the quiet and husky growl of João Gilberto, with an accompanying slow groove and textured guitars. It's a vivid document of Brazilian roots music, featuring the instruments and stylings that all of the most famed artists of the '60s (Jobim, Gilberto, Veloso, Gil) would draw upon for their artistry.

Expresso 2222, Gilberto Gil's first album back in Brazil after spending two years in exile, is a spirited return to form, filled with driving, funky bass, hammering piano, and percussive guitar work. Gil's compositions are on par with the best of his 1968 and 1969 self-titled albums, but is a more even overall affair forsaking the outright diversity Gil showed on those previous albums for a more cohesive set of songs, and while the performances aren't as outrageously groundbreaking, with Expresso 2222 Gil had already proved how far he was capable of pushing the envelope, and so the insane arrangements were no longer necessary. This makes Expresso 2222 one of Gil's most immediately palatable releases of his entire career, and compared to the standards of global rock & roll it is of the most compelling and complex yet accessible albums released in the 20th century. Gil's compositions are melodic and beautiful, and his arrangements are imaginative as always; from using a chorus of backing vocals to great effect on "O Canto de Ema" and "Sai do Sereno" to the rhythmic interplay between Gil's guitar, vocals, and layered percussion on the title track, Gil is in top form throughout the album.