Summer, 2005: Hey, I'm still cranking away on the Brazilian record reviews, though it's still mostly old stuff that's been reissued that's catching my eye these days. Here are a few of the newer discs I've been giving a listen...

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Carlinhos Brown "...E Carlito Marron" (BMG/ Ariola, 2003)
"Carlito Marron" is Brazilian pop star/percussionist Carlinhos Brown's riotous Cuban music alter ego, and on this disc he blends Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions with enchanting results. Brown revels in the explosiveness and joy of Cuban son, and takes chances with the genre that many native Cubans would not, adding the sort of layered, high-tech production and little sonic tweaks that he'd previously brought to Brazilian pop. This disc brings to mind similar off-center moderninzations of folks such as avant guitarist Marc Ribot and his band, Los Cubanos Postizos, though Brown is arguably more relaxed at at home with the son style, and a bit more subtle. Cuban tres guitarist Papi Oviedo adds some tasty licks on several tracks, while electro-bossa queen Bebel Gilberto adds her vocals on a soft, sweet version of the song, "Ifa De Copacabana," and Spanish pop-flamenco superstar Rosario Flores makes a striking appearance towards the album's end. As the album progresses, Brown drifts into material that's closer to the sleek, Brazilian-based world-pop fusion that he's been perfecting the last few years, but the opening tracks are a real change of pace on an album that is without question one of his strongest so far. Recommended!

Demonios Da Garoa "60 Anos - Ao Vivo" (Dabliu, 2004)
Another fine set of velha guarda samba music, recorded live in 2003 at a venue in Sao Paulo. These old-timers are still going strong, and if anything, this live recording surpasses recent studio recordings... It's captivating and enjoyable from start to finish. Recommended!

Joao Donato "A Bad Donato" (Blue Thumb, 1970)
It's such a great album title, but such a spazzy album. Brazilian jazz legend Joao Donato teams up with fellow pianist/arranger Eumir Deodato gets all funky and fusion-y on this high-test set, which features a slew of well-known heavyweight players such as Oscar Castro-Neves, Bud Shank, Joe Porcaro and Ernie Watts backing Donato as he gets all dit-dit-dit and doot-doot-doot, jamming hard on the electric keyboards. Many consider this a fusion masterpiece, but it's hard for me to get on board, maybe because I don't like fusion jazz that much to begin with... At any rate, the big, thumping beat of Dom Um Romao's drums is kind of exciting, but beyond that, this disc is a combination of standard-issue fusion/loungecore tropes and overly-energetic keyboard work by Donato that ranks among the least nuanced work he's ever done, about as subtle as a pile of bricks dropped on your big toe. It's a muscular, forceful performance that bashes at the ears, kind of like Walter Wanderley on acid... It was, looking back, ahead of its time in some ways, but it was also an obvious bridge between the kitschier lounge music of he 'Sixties and the aggressive rock-jazz mixes of the 'Seventies... If you like Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and all those early Chick Corea albums, this album might appeal to you, but I didn't see a big need to hang onto it myself. I'll pass.

Garoto "O Genio Das Cordas" (Serie Choro - Grandes Solistas) (EMI-Brasil, 2003)
A dazzling set of vintage recordings by choro guitarist Anibal Augusto Sardinha, aka Garoto, one of the first and greatest of the choro guitarists. Garoto had already been performing and recording for several years before he accompanied Carmen Miranda to the United States in 1939, where she became a Hollywood star. While there, he soaked up the heady, infectious jazz style of the time, bringing some of the wild energy on the swing scene home with him when he returned to Brazil in the early 'Forties. These recordings, made between 1949-55, show him as a dynamic artist, performing at his peak. It kicks off (naturally) with a lively version of the choro standard, "1 x 0," with Garoto's lightning-fast, melliflous fretwork mimicking the dancing flute of Benedito Lacerda's original solos. The album also includes several of Garoto's original compositions, such as "Choro Triste No.2," "Tristezas De Um Violao," "Desvairada," and "Sao Paulo Quatrocentro," as well as songs by Ernesto Nazareth and other, less famous choristas. It's great stuff! If you've enjoyed music by Jacob Do Bandolim or Pixinguinha, then you've got to check Garoto out as well!

Antonio Carlos Jobim (composer) "Symphonic Jobim" (Adventure Music, 2005)
Grand, romantic treatments of various Jobim classics such as "A Felicidade" and a number of lesser-known works, including some early compositions from the 1950s that had gone unrecorded until this album. The Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, conducted by Roberto Minezuk, slide gracefully through this 2-CD live set, with arrangements by Jobim, Dori Caymmi, Eumir Deodato, Claus Ogerman, Nelson Riddle, and the project's producers, Paulo Jobim and Mario Adnet. Milton Nascimento contributes vocals to two songs, "Matita Pere" and "So Todos Fossem Iguais Voce," and his performances actually provide an emotional core to the concert. These symphonic renditions may be a bit florid and formal, but it is nice to hear Jobim's work in a new context; the reverent audience in Sao Paulo certainly shows there was plenty of hometown enthusiasm... Worth checking out, though you may not find it as overtly sensuous or cool as Jobim's classic bossa nova recordings.

Benedicto Lacerda & Pixinguinha "Benedicto Lacerda E Pixinguinha" (RCA Camden, 1966)
Some of the finest and most dazzlingly pure choro instrumentals by two masters of the genre, flautist Benedicto Lacerda and multi-instrumentalist Alfredo Da Rocha Viana Filho, better known as Pixinguinha. This album of vintage recordings was first compiled in 1966, reviving classic melodies such as "1 x 0," "Naquele Tempo" and "Andre De Zapato Novo" for a generation that had since moved on to the charms of bossa nova and the pop-jazz hybrids of MPB. The original allure of these zippy tunes comes through loud and clear, though -- these tracks were recorded between 1946-50 (though many of the compositions are much older) and feature both performers at the peak of their powers. There's plenty of overlap between this disc and other Pixinguinha retrospectives, but there's something nice about hearing the music as it was first revisited by the Brazilians of the bossa nova era. Also, this is a very strong presentation, with a lean, compact selection of songs that wastes no time bringing out the best music the style has to offer. Highly recommended!

Hendrik Meurkens "Amazon River" (Blue Toucan, 2005)
A slew of heavyweight Brazilian jazz players -- including guitarist Dori Caymmi, percussionist Duduka Fonseca and album co-producer Oscar Castro-Neves -- back German-born harmonicat Hendrik Meurkens on this sometimes-lively exploration of Brazilian themes... Naturally, comparisons to two other Braz-oriented harmonica virtuosi come to the fore: like Toots Thielemans and Rildo Hora, Meurkens gets pretty mellow, but he also plays it boppy and fast, and in both cases comes up against the limitations of his instrument... (Slow sounds gooey, fast a bit goofy...) Nonetheless there are some elegant numbers, generally the vocal tracks, where the harp fades from the lead and becomes more of an accent, and these are pretty nice. Overall, this style of jazz is way too soft for me, but Meurkens does a fine job exploring various aspects of the Brazilian sound, and works in a wide range of styles... Smooth jazz fans will find this album quite lovely.

Seu Jorge "Cru" (Wrasse, 2005)
A wonderfully low-key record, which starts off with a lively, cavaquinho-led acoustic number, recalling the glory years of the '70s pagode scene, and moves into a series of equally subtle, understated performances. On track after track, Seu Jorge implies more musical power than he displays, and even on the few tunes where he dips back into his soul roots, it is with the greatest of restraint... A couple of moments are mildly taxing -- his vocal duel with a cuica, for example -- but nothing will interfere with your enjoyment of what is clearly a superior album. Features mostly original material, including a couple of songs by collaborator Fernando Brant (who also plays guitar on about half the album) and an old samba number by Noca Da Portela, as well as an updated version of an old Serge Gainsbourg song, "Chatterton," which is like capnip for all the Euro-hipsters eager to get a healthy dose of cool new Brazilian music as well. Very nice and very listenable... Recommended!

Various Artists "AVE, BRASIL: 2004/2005" (Maritaca, 2005)
A sampler of contemporary "smooth jazz" musicians, from albums released on the independent Maritaca label... Guitarist Filo Machado is the only one of these musicians I'd heard of before (and, I think, the only one who's had an album released in the United States...) Other contributors include Arismar, Heloisa Fernandes, Lea Freire, Caito Marcondes and Mozar Terra. These soft-fusion tunes aren't my kind of music, but if you like the style, it might be fun to discover a whole new batch of artists working in the style. (For more information, check out the label's website at: www.maritaca.art.br.)

Various Artists "RIO BAILE FUNK: FAVELA BOOTY BEATS" (Essay, 2004)
A groovy, well-programmed collection of Brazilian party music, lively stuff that springs from a Brazilian fascination with the "Miami bass" style of dance/hip-hop music... As heard here, the insistent, often obnoxious baile funk doesn't always highlight the heavy low end of its Miami-based ancestors, but it does share a gleeful sense of hedonism, frivolity and abandon. This disc is a slick mix of no-brainer dancefloor favorites by artists such as Dennis DJ, Furacao 2000, MC Jack and others; although its hardly in the Brazilian pop mainstream, the baile funk scene had an explosive growth in the 1980s and '90s, fronting huge, rave-like dance parties amid monstrously large sound systems. As described in the album's liner notes, the scene fell prey to incidental violence and for a time the dances were legally procribed following a few notably disasterous shows. Still, it's hard to imagine such a spunky sound being kept down for long: I'm hardly a fan of club culture, dance music or 'lectro beats, but this is a fun album, with spazzy sampled beats, kooky, rapid-fire lyrics (often sampled and manipulated) that are more like rally chants than rapping or dancehall... The superfast, dat-datdat-daadad-dah beat somehow, miraculously falls short of simple monotony, and the whole effect is rather giddy and captivating. It's hardly your typical Brazilian pop, but it's definitely worth checking out.

Various Artists "THE SEXUAL LIFE OF THE SAVAGES: UNDERGROUND POST-PUNK FROM SAO PAULO" (Soul Jazz, 2005)
Make no mistake about it: this disc is a fascinating, well-researched and invaluable exploration of some of the rarest Brazilian rock -- jittery, angular, no-wave-ish art-rock from the early-'80s Sao Paulo underground scene. Generally speaking, punk and indie rock have historically made little traction in Brazil, particularly the bands of this era and this style of music, so a disc is of tremendous historical value, filled with way-off-the-radar bands such as Mercenarias (whoever they were...), Gang 90 (hunh?), and Akira S E As Garotas Que Erraram (wait, they're not in the Trouser Press Guide, either...!!) The trouble is, for me at least, that I never really liked this kind of music, even though half the people at my radio station dutifully venerated bands like ESG, James White, Gang Of Four, Lora Logic, et al., back when I was first immersed in the murky world of 1980s college radio... But man, if my artsy little pals had known about this collection back then...!! Wheeww... they really woulda wet themselves. Anyway, I've never been much for the arid, super-cerebral side of the punk and post-punk scene -- crunchy, messy guitars, snotty attitudes and sheer hormonal release were always kinda more my style. But it's instantly clear that these kids in Sao Paulo were really pretty hip and up-to-date, and they were getting all the "right" imports for the time... The spirits of Joy Division and Pere Ubu hang like patron saints over this remarkable album... Great liner notes, too, that delve into the particulars of the Brazilian punk/rock scene, including some info about the fabled Baratos Afins label and record shop... I doubt I'll ever really listen to this disc again, but I'm certainly not going to give up my copy any time soon...

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