Balanço Brasileiro

There's Baile Funk, Samba Funk, Funky Samba, Brazilian Soul, Roots Samba, Bossa Nova and dozens more sub-genres of Brazilian music that swing, but today we're gonna focus on just that, the SWING. In Brazilian Portuguese, the term is "Balanço". Now, there's no real specific definition of "Balanço" but like the term suggests, its more a feeling, the way a song moves. I think this term became popularized in the early-to-mid sixties when the instrumental Bossa Jazz trios were in swinging in full fore, such as Tamba Trio, Jongo Trio, Bossa Três and many others. These groups were melodic, but they also SWUNG HARD.

Around this time you also have "dance music" purveyors, like Ed Lincoln with his organ and his swinging dance records. One of Ed's main men and occasional vocalist was Orlandivo, who first started recording in the early 60s. He made a couple albums in the early-to-mid sixties and then not another solo record until the 1977 album he did with João Donato (see below). He was a vocalist, percussionist and song writer.

One of Orlandivo's best known songs is featured today in four versions, "Tamanco No Samba". The direct translation means "Clog in Samba", but clog like the wooden shoe, not what's backing up your drain. If someone knows what this is referring to, please chime in. A quick glance at the lyrics suggests the song is about the sound a woman makes when dancing the samba wearing clogs - a bonus percussive element to the samba. Works for me.

Anyways, this is a sleeper favorite from Orlandivo's 1977 album, which is chock full of great tunes and then I found it retitled as "Samba Blim" from the Tamba 4 album of the same name on A&M from 1968. The drummer from Tamba 4, Helcio Milito, often appears alongside Orlandivo on various album credits throughout the years, so I'm guessing they go way back. Next, I heard another cover on the beautiful 70s bossa vocal jazz album Aquarius and then my main man Cal Tjader covered the tune with help from Airto on his "Amazonas" album. And with that, I bring you "Tamanco No Samba."

Tamba 4 - Samba Blim
I picked up their first A&M album "We and the Sea" awhile back but it was when my initial bossa binge was waning, so I failed to appreciate this top-shelf band making full use of the American recording environment. This, their second and final record for A&M (though rumors have it there was a third recorded - the promo single only "California Soul" being from those sessions) is really solid. They were such a versatile band for three (occasionally four) members including the singing bassist, Bebeto. I discovered this tune after knowing and loving the 1977 Orlandivo version and realized it was the same song with a different title, which was not uncommon for US releases of Brazilian tunes.

Aquarius - Tamanco No Samba
This is an extremely rare record that has more than a little in common with the criminally underrated duo of Burnier & Cartier. Cartier is absent on this one, but Octavio Burner and his wife Sonia are all over this and the sound is very similar to their albums and then there are two of their compositions on here. Overall, this is a lovely mid-seventies Bossa Nova album with stunning production. You can download it here from Quimsy's blog.

Orlandivo - Tamanco No Samba
One of the best albums of the 70s for my money. Orlandivo's songs and laid-back vocal style combined with a top-shelf band including João Donato on arrangements. Loronix has the album here.

Cal Tjader - Tamanco No Samba
Cal knew his Brazilian music and on top of that he had Airto produce this mid-seventies outing so you knew he was gonna have the Brazilian beat dialed in to perfection. This joint was recorded walking distance from where I work in Berkeley, CA.

After Hours Brazilian Jazz

The funny thing about eBay is that sometimes a search will lead me to a seller who has other interesting records that I wouldn't have thought to search for, but I put them in my "watched items" satchel and see what happens. In this case, I lost the auction that brought me to this seller and ended up getting another record from the same seller. The record in question was Manfredo Fest's "After Hours" on Daybreak Records from 1972. Loronix has the full rip here (but let me say I thought the rip to be sub-par, which is why I re-ripped my favorites and am posting for your listening pleasure below)

You might remember the blind Brazilian keyboard player from his solo records in brazil or maybe his stint in the Sergio Mendes mentored group Bossa Rio (I did a post a while back where you can hear Manfredo's organ go head to head with Joao Donato's piano). After Bossa Rio Manfredo settled down in Minneapolis and struck out on his own with "After Hours." He had a couple more solo albums in the 1970s-1990s and passed away in 1999. You can find seven of his albums on Loronix and a full biography here.

I was really pleasantly surprised by this album as it grooves along nicely with solid Brazilian touches, but doesn't try to too hard to come off as authentic. Manfredo's playing is excellent as he switches between Fender Rhodes, Hammon B-3 and acoustic piano. The only original is the killer "Bossa Rock Blues" and the other two are from soundtracks, I believe. Enjoy!
















Manfredo Fest - Amanda
Manfredo Fest - Bossa Rock Blues
Manfredo Fest - Moondust

New Heights of Record-Nerdery

Being a collector makes you do crazy things, like buy an expensive Japanese-only Live album by a group that you don't even particularly like just because it happens to have your all-time favorite Brazilian pianist on it. Yes, that's right . . . João Donato is playing on this 1970 live album recorded in Japan. I heard about this album from the man himself when I had the chance to interview him. He explained that Bossa Rio's regular piano player could not get a visa to play the 1970 Expo show in Japan and that Sergio Mendes (Bossa Rio's founder and manager) asked Donato if he would play the show. Knowing Donato, he was probably broke and looking for work, so he jumped at the gig. But step back for a second and consider that Donato is one of THE fathers of Bossa Nova and Sergio, surely, was an early fan and owed a great debt to the man and now he was playing nearly anonymous piano in Sergio's second-tier band.


Here we see Donato in the middle of the band, injecting his unique style of playing into any setting. I've picked three songs form this pretty-darn-nice Live album. Donato shines more on the second two, though this being a "pop" band, there was not much room for soloing. Though the story goes that the owner of Blue Thumb records signed Donato for an album based on his economic, yet moving playing from this performance. The resulting album would be his lone album on Blue Thumb, "A Bad Donato".

Bossa Rio (Featuring João Donato) - Irene
A fresh, bossa-fied take on the great Caetano tune that had been released within the year.

Bossa Rio (Featuring João Donato) - What a Pity (Que Pena)
A cool english language version of this classic Jorge Ben tune.

Bossa Rio (Featuring João Donato) - Quem Diz Quem Sabe
This is the lone Donato composition on the album and one of the only in songs in Portuguese.

Marcos Valle . . . Beyond the 'Classic Years'

There are many favorite artists of mine that I have yet to discuss in this space, but Marcos Valle is by far one of the most important. When I was first exploring Brazilian music and starting to collect vinyl I took a chance on a record I saw reviewed at dustygroove called "The Essential Marcos Valle, Volume 2" (I had to wait a couple years for Volume 1 to get repressed before I could pick that one up). It took me a few listens to figure out what I was listening to and trying to fit it into my limited understanding of Brazilian music, but pretty soon Marcos became a cornerstone of my love of 1960s and 1970s Brazilian pop music alongside Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben.

Marcos Valle was an extremely prolific music writer and recording artist from 1963 until 1974 with 11 albums under his own name as well as regular Brazilian soap-opera soundtracks, movie soundtracks, the occasional one-off album without his name attached and even the soundtrack to the Brazilian Sesame Street, Vila Sesamo!

But when you look at his discography there is a major gap from 1974-1981 when he didn't release a single album in the U.S. or in Brazil. This always bewildered me especially as Marcos' releases were always such quality products and he is a very well known artist in Brazil. Upon further research we find that after his self-titled 1974 album Marcos came to the U.S. to try his hand for the second time in the American music business. Upon arrival in the U.S. he connected with a diverse group of musicians including Motown recording artist and producer, Leon Ware, the band Chicago and David (well-known songwriter and leader of the band Toto) and his father, Marty Paich, the veteran jazz arranger. It was through Marty that Marcos was introduced to Sarah Vaughan who was beginning a project covering Beatles' songs and wanted a Bossa Nova treatment for the George Harrison tune, "Something." This linked interview gets some of the details wrong (the song was "Something" not "Yesterday" for instance) but shows Marcos discussing this part of his career with an Australian radio journalist.

Sarah Vaughan - Something (with Marcos Valle)
I've always liked Sarah Vaughan, but I can't say this is one of my favorite albums of hers. I picked this one up recently purely on Marcos' participation. I do love his arrangement of this song and especially his Portuguese lyric at the end. Sarah's vocals are a bit strained and overpowering for the gentle arrangement, but it's an interesting listen nonetheless.

Marcos Valle - Paraiba Nao e Chicago (with Chicago)
Marcos returned to Brazil in the early 1980s and made this LP upon his return. It features a handful of songs that he co-wrote with Leon Ware while in L.A. and this song here is no exception. Peter Cetera, before his Karate-Kid soundtrack days, also chips in on back-up vocals and writing credits. It's cool to listen to this album and Marcos's next album from 1983 alongside Leon Ware's two Elektra albums to hear the American and Brazilian versions of the same songs. For instance, Ware's version of this song is called "Baby Don't Stop Me" and is off of his 1981 album "Rockin' You Eternally." Peter Cetera's vocals are pretty clear in the background on this one.

Marcos Valle - Agua de Coco
Here we have a much later Marcos cut from his 2003 album, "Contrasts" on Far Out. I completely dismissed his newer albums until a friend, Elan, suggested I give them a closer listen. This track is one of my favorites of his newer stuff. I hope to meet Marcos some point in the future. We spoke a couple times on the phone last time I was in Brazil, but we couldn't figure out a time to get together . . . If only he would play New York sometime soon.

I've posted some other Marcos Valle videos over on SS Videos . . .

The Shoemaker from Bahia, Brazil

What makes a song worthy of covering, or in other words, why are some songs covered ad infinitum while other great songs have just one version? I was thinking about this the other day when my favorite DJ, DJ Shuffles of the iPod fame, played yet another version of "Na Baixa do Sapateiro." At first I thought, 'not another version of this song!' but as I listened I realized what a great version this new one was and how it really made me appreciate the composition even more. So a simple search in my iTunes uncovered several more versions of the song. Then a trip over to Loronix revealed several more that I didn't already have. I downloaded the essential ones and now I think I'm ready to divulge no less than seven versions of the song. Actually, there is one more version I'd like to share, but I can't seem to find the record it's on, so we'll have to wait.

Rather than repeat the excellent history of the song written by Daniella Thompson, you can check it out here. Daniella has also compiled an exhaustive list of versions of the song, as either "Na Baixa do Sapateiro" or "Baia"/"Bahia".

And for an insight into the life and times of composer, Ary Barroso, please read on from Daniella's site. Barroso was a giant of Brazilian song up there with Dorival Caymmi and Antonio Carlos Jobim in the Brazilian pantheon of composers.

Now for the versions of this song, starting off with what I believe to be the first recorded version from none other than Carmen Miranda:

Carmen Miranda - Na Baixa do Sapateiro









Now we're gonna mix it up with a funky version by Wando from 1975.

Wando - Na Baixa do Sapateiro








Here we have a soul-jazz version from by Jorge Autuori Trio from 1969:

Jorge Autuori Trio - Na Baixa do Sapateiro









And one of my alltime favorite versions from the Pope of Bossa Nova, Joao Gilberto, from 1973:

Joao Gilberto - Na Baixa do Sapateiro









Evinha, a pop-soul singer, takes a stab at the song from her 1974 album:

Evinha - Na Baixa do Sapateiro








Now the song gets a samba-space-funk treatment from Meireles' 1974 album:

Meireles e Sua Orquestra - Na Baixa do Sapateiro









And here is another early version from 1953 with some great reverb/echo on the beat:

Trio Surdina & Leo Peracchi - Na Baixa do Sapateiro









And finally, we have Banda Black Rio's brazilian-jazz-funk take on the classic:

Banda Black Rio - Na Baixa do Sapateiro

Gringo Bossa Nova

My initial inspiration for collecting records was a way for me to further explore my newest musical passion, Bossa Nova. Bossa is a strange musical genre because it means many things to many people. When I first started out I thought the essence of Bossa was Astrud Gilberto or even Charlie Byrd's "Jazz Samba," but the deeper I dug, the more I realized how much Bossa morphed according to international trends, producing strange and exciting hybrids like Sergio Mendes' Brazil '66/'77/'88 projects. What did happen was that "Bossa Nova" became a style into itself, something that jazz, pop, rock and even soul musicians could use for a song or two and then forget, like "Joe Carioca," pictured above.

"Joe" is the classic emblem of this Brazilian-American fusion, "Jose Carioca" aka "Joe Carioca" from the 1942 Disney movie "Saludos Amigos." Joe is Disney's version of a typical Brazilian. He's a bit crass and more Disney than he is Brazilian, but like the following songs, he's got just enough Brazilian flavor to make him exotic and palatable to American audiences. The following five songs are but a few of my favorite Bossa-tinged tunes by Gringo musicians from the 60s and 70s . . .

Chris Montez - Keep Talkin'
OK, so my first selection is from someone who would no doubt resent being labeled a gringo . . . the L.A. born Chicano singer, Chris Montez. Chris recorded several albums for A&M, home to Sergio Mendes who was regularly introducing Brazilian tunes to the American chart through his best-selling Brazil '66 albums. Chris recorded a very early version of Joao Donato's instrumental "Amazonas" with English lyrics called "Keep Talkin'." It's not confirmed, but it is possible that Joao was responsible for the song's inclusion and may have even been on the recording as he was in L.A. around that time. The song sounds a bit cutesy now, but I am a sucker for just about any Donato version and this one is no exception.

The Supremes - Precious Little Things
This is a nice little soul-bossa tune by post-Diana Supremes. The song was co-written by Smokey Robinson who also produced this album. The album is a delight as are all of the early post-Diana albums and this one has at least four other solid tunes. Once again Smokey's touch is magical as the lyrics and subtle instrumentation create a gentle and touching song set to a slightly tropical beat.

Jon Lucien - Satan
Jon Lucien is also no gringo, having been born in the British Virgin Islands, but he spent nearly all of his recording and performing career in the U.S. This song is off of his album Rashida, his best in my opinion. If I didn't know before hand I would have been absolutely convinced that this song was authentically South American as Jon is a dead wringer for Milton Nascimento style crooning/warbling. The instrumentation also nails the early 70s Brazilian studio vibe. A great song from a lesser known jazz vocalist.

Michael Franks - B'wana He No Home
Michael Franks is a gringo. I was initially embarrassed to like this, but now it's one of my favorite songs, again with no small part to Joao Donato guesting on piano (check out his outro vamp . . . so perfect). This is from Frank's third album and features a couple of tunes recorded down in Brazil with some local help. Evidently the lyrics to the song (listen closely cause they're funny/sleazy/interesting) refer to a time when Dan Hicks (of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks) was staying at Franks' place while he was away . . .

Dee Dee Bridgewater - Night Moves
Dee Dee is another excellent jazz vocalist that turns this Michael Frank's song from his "Art of Tea" album into a bass-heavy Bossa Nova tune. The band is great on this tune and Dee Dee finds a middle-ground between sexy and sleazy, falling closer to the sexy side whereas the previous tune (above) falls on the sleazy side.

I could keep going for days with these kinds of songs and maybe I'll do another round sometime in the future. Keep in mind that all of these records (excepting the Jon Lucien) can be found in most dollar bins which is a nice reminder that great songs can be found on all kinds of records, expensive or cheap.

Essential Brazilian album courtesy of Loronix

I made a decision when starting this blog to focus on quality over quantity with the music I post. This means I will only rarely post an entire album. This is not to say that I don't love the blogs out there that do post entire albums, but that's just not going to be my "thing" at Soul Spectrum. However, some albums are just perfect with no sacrifice in quality across a greater quantity. I was in the process of piecing together a list of essential albums, Brazilian and otherwise when I saw that Loronix had reposted one of my all-time favorite Brazilian albums, "Orlandivo" Self-titled from 1977. It is also sometimes known as "Orlandivo Com Joao Donato" because of J.D.'s signature touch on all sorts of keyboards and all over the arrangements. To me, this is like the third album in the Joao Donato series that began in 1973 with "Quem e Quem" and continued in 1975 with "Lugar Comum." Truly essential in all of its funky, laid-back, jazzy glory. And be sure to cruise around Loronix if you haven't already, its a treasure trove of lost Brazilian music.

Loronix

Orlandivo post