Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Real jazz, really Brazilian
Filó Machado shows off his chops
in Jazz de Senzala.
Filó Machado (photo courtesy of Lua Discos)
American audiences discovered Filó Machado’s jazzy samba and vocal pyrotechnics a few years ago, when Malandro Records released his album Cantando um Samba. Filó’s voice, which might best be described as a jazzy Milton Nascimento, made Cantando um Samba Malandro’s best-selling album. But it was by no means his first. Filó is a veteran of over forty years, having begun at the age of ten to perform in dance bands of his native town, Ribeirão Preto, SP.
Many waters have passed under many bridges since then, and Jazz de Senzala is Filó’s ninth solo album, featuring a number of his compositions dating from several decades, as well as the songs of others, with a spotlight on Minas Gerais.
Senzalas were the Brazilian slave quarters located behind the fazendeiro’s house, the Casa Grande. From the senzalas came samba, just as jazz and blues had their roots in the North American plantation slave cabins. Thus the title Jazz de Senzala both unites disparate musical genres that grew in similar circumstances and highlights the difference between the freedom of jazz expression and the captivity that served as its cradle.
“Procissão” is a percussive excursion into the Gilberto Gil song that Filó executes with nothing but voice and acoustic guitar and which ends on a crescendo:
Olha lá vai passando a procissão
Se arrastando que nem cobra pelo chão
As pessoas que nela vão passando
Acreditam nas coisas lá do céu
As mulheres cantando tiram versos
Os homens escutando tiram o chapéu
Eles vivem penando aqui na Terra
Esperando o que Jesus prometeu [...]
The lovely instrumental waltz “Laurence” follows, in a lyrical arrangement by Theo de Barros. Harvey Winnapel’s solo clarinet states the melody for the first time, to be joined by string quartet, guitar, two flutes (Léa Freire & Teco Cardoso), horn (Mário Rocha), and acoustic bass (Tibô Delor). The tune harks back to the pastoral world of Impressionism, evoking images of sun-dappled, flower-strewn meadows.
In “Aqui, Ó!,” the song’s composer Toninho Horta lends his legendary guitar to the track and even sings backup. Filó is on electric guitar, and the two strum energetically and harmonize vocally, relishing the affair and ending on a peal of laughter:
Oh! Minas Gerais
Um caminhão
Guarda quem ficou
Com vinte anos ou mais
Eu iria a pé
Oh, meu amor
Eu iria até, meu pai
Sem um tostão
Em Minas Gerais, alegria é
Guardada em cofres, catedrais
Na varanda vejo o meu amor
Tem benção de Deus
Todo aquele que trabalha no escitório
Bendito é o fruto
Bendito é o fruto
Bendito é o fruto dessas Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais
“Fada” (Fairy) is another slower wordless tune entrusted to Theo de Barros’ arrangment. Filó’s gentle vocalese and guitar are echoed by Léa Freire and Teco Cardoso’s muted flutes.
Theo de Barros wrote “Menino das Laranjas,” about the boy who sells oranges at the street market. It’s a rapid samba that Filó uses as a platform for his vocal improvisations. As in “Procissão, ” his only accompanying instrument is a guitar (in fact, there are no percussion instruments on this disc), but Filó squeezes maximum percussive effects from both voice and guitar.
Menino que vai pra feira
Vender sua laranja até se acabar
Filho de mãe solteira
Cuja ignorância tem que sustentar
É madrugada, vai sentindo frio
Porque se o cesto não voltar vazio
A mão arranja um outro pra laranja
E esse filho vai ter que apanhar
Compra laranja, doutor
Ainda dou uma de quebra pro senhor
Compra laranja, laranja, laranja, doutor
Ainda dou uma de quebra pro senhor [...]
Filó composed “Tema pro Macumbinha” in the late 1970s as a tribute to the gifted young São Paulo guitarist Macumbinha (1951–1977), who died with his family as a result of a gas leak in their apartment. This long track opens with a free tenor sax riff by Vinícius Dorin. Eventually he receives a rhythmic boost from Filó’s electric guitar and Arismar do Espírito Santo’s 7-string guitar. The theme is another venue for Filo’s high-energy vocalizing.
Toninho Horta and his guitar return to accompany Filó’s singing in “Pedra da Lua,” a poetic rumination that begins dreamily but picks up tempo and lapses into scat before subsiding into conclusion:
Dia, mania
Tarde covarde, noite açoite
Minha mãe calma e serena
Com seu sorriso inseguro
Toda vestida de branco
Hoje parece mentira
Hoje parece verdade
Menino levante cedo
Menino não chegue tarde [...]
Another voice-guitar rendition is “Notícias do Brasil” (Os pássaros trazem) by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant, through which Filó races at breakneck speed. The news carried by the birds from Fortaleza, Recife, Natal, and other points north is that Brazil is more than its coastal cities. Throughout the country lives a people that deserves more respect:
[...] O canto mais belo será sempre o mais sincero
Salve tudo quanto é belo será sempre de espantar
Aqui vive um povo que cultiva a qualidade
Ser mais sábio do quem eu quer governar
A novidade é que o Brasil não é só litoral
É muito mais, é muito mais que qualquer zona sul
Tem gente boa espalhada por esse Brasil
Que vai fazer desse lugar um bom país [...]
“Pro Felipe,” composed in the studio for Filó’s grandson, is a jazzy flight for voice, electric guitar (Filó), and bass (the latter wielded by Thiago do Espirito Santo). While the bass carries the melody and lead improvization, the guitar responds in freeform, clipped harmony. Theo de Barros arranged Léa Freire & Joyce’s “Samba de Mulher” for electric guitar (Filó), 7-string guitar (Arismar do Espirito Santo), and flutes (Léa Freire and Teco Cardoso). With Filó’s voice acting as a horn and percussion provided by beating on guitars, the effect is one of a complete band.
[...] Mulher que é mulher consola
Mulher que é mulher descola
Parece que deita e rola
Mas quando não se controla
Levanta a cabeça e chora
Que bom que mulher pode chorar
The final three tracks are all voice-electric guitar solos in which Filó gives free rein to vocal improvising. “Jazz de Senzala” and “Here Is That Rainy Day” are dished out in vocalese (the latter in an 8-minute marathon). The lyrics of “É Difícil Perdoar” lend themselves to a lullaby, but Filó gives it the full rhythmic treatment:
Vou cantar bem baixinho pra você ouvir
A cançnao que eu fiz é pra ninar
Moça bonita, eu sei
Que pouco amor lhe dei
É difícil perdoar [...]
Jazz de Senzala is a cohesive and dense work that demands repeated attention to savor fully. The rewards are considerable. Listen to five audio samples on the Maritaca website.
Filó Machado: Jazz de Senzala
(Maritaca M 1007; 2003) 62:55 min.
Produced by Léa Freire
Arranged by Filó Machado & Theo de Barros
01. Procissão (Gilberto Gil)
02. Laurence (Filó Machado)
03. Aqui, Ó! (Toninho Horta/Fernando Brant)
04. Fada (Filó Machado)
05. Menino das Laranjas (Theo de Barros)
06. Tema pro Macumbinha (Filó Machado)
07. Pedra da Lua (Toninho Horta/Cacaso)
08. Notícias do Brasil (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant)
09. Pro Felipe (Filó Machado)
10. Samba de Mulher (Léa Freire/Joyce)
11. Jazz de Senzala (Filó Machado)
12. É Difícil Perdoar (Filó Machado)
13. Here Is That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke)
__________________________
11:29
 
Saturday, September 18, 2004
O Cantor das Multidões
Orlando Silva’s biography returns in a third edition.
 Image courtesy of Ricardo Paoletti
Orlando Silva (1915–1978) was Brazil’s greatest male singer during the radio era (and in the opinion of many, the greatest of all time). His crystalline tenor, natural emission, and impeccable sense of timing combined with an unerring taste to produce a long string of popular classics. By the age of 21, he was the biggest singing star Brazil had ever known, equally at home while interpreting samba, waltz, foxtrot, choro, or carnaval marchinhas. At a time when radio and phonographic discs were in their infancy as mass entertainment media, with no organized publicity machine to propel his career, Orlando was known and beloved throughout Brazil. He was the first Brazilian singer to be mobbed wherever he went. Fans tore his clothes for souvenirs. Women attempted suicide on his account.
Getúlio Vargas once told him, “I would like to have your popularity, Orlando.” The singer modestly replied, “Nobody is as popular as you, Mr. President.” Retorted Vargas, “But nobody has your popularity and no enemies.”
There are experts (including Ruy Castro) who opine that during his peak years, Orlando Silva was the best popular singer in the world. The peak years were short; they lasted from 1935 to 1942, while Orlando was under contract to RCA. By the mid-1940s his voice had lost its brilliance in the wake of an alcohol and drug addiction. In the ’50s, the singer managed to rehabilitate himself and reconstruct his career, although never at the dizzying heights of his youth. Still, as he once said to his biographer Jonas Vieira, “I’m already in the history of Brazilian popular music, and nobody can take this place away from me.”
Orlando’s consecrated place consists of immortal recordings such as Pixinguinha’s “Carinhoso” and “Rosa” (flip sides of the same 1937 disc); Cândido da Neves’ “Lágrimas” and “Última Estrofe”; “Dama do Cabaré” (Noel Rosa); “Lábios que Beijei” and “Juramento Falso” (J. Cascata/Leonel Azevedo); “Chora, Cavaquinho” (Dunga); “Abre a Janela” (Arlindo Marques Jr./Roberto Roberti); “A Jardineira” (Benedito Lacerda/Humberto Porto); “Meu Consolo É Você” (Antônio Nássara/Roberto Martins); “Nada Além” (Custodio Mesquita/Mário Lago); “A Primeira Vez” (Bide/Marçal); “Naná” (Custódio Mesquita/Geysa Bôscoli); “Aos Pés da Cruz” (Marino Pinto/José Gonçalves); “Quero Dizer-te Adeus” (Ary Barroso); “Errei... Erramos” (Ataulfo Alves) and “Atire a Primeira Pedra” (Ataulfo Alves/Mário Lago); “Curare” (Bororó); and “Preconceito” (Wilson Batista/Marino Pinto), among many others.
Several of the above (“A Primeira Vez”; “Aos Pés da Cruz”; “Curare”; and “Preconceito”) are known to present generations in the voice of Orlando’s fan João Gilberto, who began his own solo recording career in 1952 with “Quando Ela Sai” (Alberto Jesus/Roberto Penteado), in which his interpretation was clearly inspired by his favorite singer.
 Orlando Silva with Clementina de Jesus
Orlando’s life was a turbulent one, marked by extreme highs and lows, early poverty, illness and pain. His father, José Celestino da Silva, a railway worker, was a well-known choro guitarist who played with Pixinguinha in an early formation of the Oito Batutas and hosted choro parties at the family home. These sometimes lasted as long as a week. José Celestino died in the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, when Orlando was only three years old, but the choro heard in his infancy no doubt molded the singer’s style for the rest of his life.
This life is well told in Jonas Vieira’s book Orlando Silva, o Cantor das Multidões (Rio de Janeiro: Funarte, 1985), which has just been published in a revised and expanded third edition. Vieira is the most authoritative source on the artist, having been his personal friend. In additional to interviews with Orlando, Vieira questioned the singer’s family, acquaintances, and colleagues in the musical and radio spheres. Being himself a veteran of these very circles, Vieira brings to his account the credibility of an insider.
The book served as the source for the new musical play Orlando Silva, o Cantor das Multidões by Antonio de Bonis and Fátima Valência.
Where can one obtain Vieira’s biography? I wish I could tell you. There used to a Loja Funarte online, where it was possible to order books and have them shipped from Brazil for a very reasonable cost. That site is no more. The best strategy is to ask your favorite vendor to order it.
On a related note, the 3-CD long box Orlando Silva, o Cantor das Multidões (RCA/BMG 7432123238-2), containing 66 recordings spanning the years 1935–1942, is still available. However, it doesn’t contain everything Orlando recorded in those years. Jonas Vieira informs me that a new, complete box set is about to be released.
See photos of Orlando Silva and listen to him singing some of his hits on this page by Fabio Lanari.
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14:24
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Jobim in new English
CD from England changes the words.
Do you wince each time you hear these pearls?
I took your picture with my trusty Rolleiflex
And find that all I have developed is a complex
Or these?
But each day as she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at he
With lyricists like Gene Lees (who wrote the former), Norman Gimbel (author of the latter), and Ray Gilbert (who turned “O Morro Não Tem Vez” into “Somewhere in the Hills”), no wonder Tom Jobim eventually figured out he was better off writing his own English lyrics.
Mal Adam and Chris Slater thought it was time the originals received more respectful translations. The results are available on the new CD Nova Jobim from Puratone Recordings in Hull, England.
The new translations don’t pretend to be poetry, but they are competent lyrics that convey the spirit and meaning of the original songs.
Performed by vocalist Lyn Acton with Bossa Loco, the songs are not exactly what I would call Brazilian music. Although the blurb on the Puratone site claims that “[co-producer] Jay [Moy]’s knowledge of samba rhythms really helped to place the bossa nova where we wanted it—as part of samba before being part of jazz,“ there’s actually more jazz than samba here.
That shouldn’t disturb bossa nova lovers who aren’t samba purists. Listen to audio samples.
Lyn Acton + Bossa Loco: Nova Jobim, volume 1
(Puratone Recordings PURA004 CD; 2004) 56:17 min.
01. Água de Beber [Water to Drink]
02. Brigas Nunca Mais [Fight No More]
03. O Amor em Paz [Once I Loved]
04. A Felicidade [Happiness]
05. Desafinado [Slightly Out of Tune]
06. Corcovado [Quiet Nights, Quiet Stars]
07. Chega de Saudade [No More Blues]
08. Meditação [Meditation]
09. O Morro Não Tem Vez [Favela]
10. Insensatez [How Insensitive]
11. Garota de Ipanema [Girl From Ipanema]
12. Vivo Sonhando [Dreamer]
__________________________
11:19
Monday, September 06, 2004
Sérgio Santos sobre Sérgio Santos
O compositor descreve seu trabalho mais recente.
Leila Pinheiro, Sérgio Santos e Francis Hime num show do
Sérgio no Paço Imprerial, em 2002 (foto: Leila Pinheiro site oficial)
Procurei dar ao disco Sérgio Santos uma unidade não apenas temática, com o repertório baseado em sambas e na estética do choro, mas também sonora, optando por uma sonoridade que percorresse o disco inteiro. Essa sonoridade foi trabalhada com músicos que tem uma forma personalíssima de tocar, e que formaram a base instrumetal de todo o trabalho: André Mehmari, Rodolfo Stroeter e Tutty Moreno. As sutilezas da forma de tocar desses músicos interferiu inclusive na minha forma de cantar, procurando adaptar o tamanho da minha emissão e a minha divisão rítmica ao balanço que a base instrumental já trazia. Essas duas escolhas foram fundamentais no resultado final do trabalho.
Os arranjos para metais do Nelson Ayres já existiam desde o show que fiz no Hollywood Bowl em 1999, quando levei um quarteto de metais que tive a oportunidade de reunir novamente nessa gravação. Os arranjos de sopros que fiz me deixaram muito feliz pelo resultado da sonoridade.
 Quanto às composições, me arrisquei um pouco mais como letrista. Posso parecer um pouco abusado tendo uma obra tão grande com um parceiro como o Paulo Cesar Pinheiro, mas nessas quatro faixas em que assino as letras tinha um recado claro a dar. Três delas são homenagens a pessoas que adimiro muito: ao próprio Paulo Cesar e a Maurício Tapajós em “Feito do Nada”; ao grande zagueiro Luisinho da seleção brasileira da Copa de ’82 e do Atlético Mineiro, meu time de coração, em “Jogo de Zagueiro”; e ao dançarino Carlinhos de Jesus, um ícone da dança de salão do Brasil, em “Salão”. O interessante é que nas três letras, homenageio as pessoas não falando sobre elas, mas falando como se fosse elas. A quarta música é “Samba em Serenata”, a música que fiz que minha mulher mais gosta.
Compor com Paulo Cesar Pinheiro é um privilégio. Letras como a de “Coração de Mulher” e “Um Choro” e “Desmascarada” são verdadeiras obras primas. De nossas parcerias, há músicas compostas a quase dez anos, como “Coração de Mulher”, e letras como a de “Paixão Bandida”, que foram feitas enquanto já estava no estúdio gravando.
“Paixão Bandida” tem uma história curiosa. Desde que conheço Francis Hime temos vontade de compor alguma coisa juntos. No ano passado fui ao Rio fazer alguns shows e o convidei para fazer uma participação. Quando fui à casa dele ensaiar, já tarde da noite e um dia antes do show, aproveitei e levei a partitura com a primeira parte desse choro-canção, e lhe propus que fizesse a segunda parte. Ele tocou ao piano, achou bonita e disse que um dia iria fazer. Naquele dia fui dormir feliz com a perspectiva de me tornar parceiro de um dos meus grandes ídolos. No dia seguinte, durante o show, após tocar o que havíamos ensaiado, ele continuou no palco, colocou uma partitura sobre o piano e disse algo como: “Agora você vai ouvir a nossa primeira parceria.” E tocou a música inteira, ali mesmo, diante do público que assistia ao show, com a segunda parte dele, que havia feito durante toda a noite anterior. E eu quase fui ao chão de surpresa e alegria, um momento para mim emocionante.
É um privilégio poder contar com a voz do Francis na nossa parceria, e com Leila Pinheiro, uma das cantoras de que mais gosto, em “Coração de Mulher”.
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13:34
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Sardines, samba, choro, jazz
Pagode Jazz Sardinha’s Club straddles the genres.
If Brazilian jazz has ever been haunted by a stigma, bossa nova is its name. Too often—especially outside Brazil—the two are assumed to be one, the former inseparable from the latter. Pagode Jazz Sardinha’s Club’s recent disc gives the lie to this myth once again, offering jazz based on traditional samba, as well as on other hard-driving native and imported genres. Everything but bossa nova.
The band’s approach has always been eclectic (read about its formation). In its latest album, Sardinhas, this group of crack musicians blends straight-ahead and Latin jazz, funk, rap, samba, soul, gafieira, and choro in a format that is thoroughly contemporary yet displays strong ties to urban musical traditions of the past.
The mix is made possible by the group’s versatile lineup, which includes Rodrigo Lessa on bandolim, banjo, cavaquinho & guitars; Bernardo Bosísio on guitar; Eduardo Neves on saxophones, flutes & piccolo; Roberto Marques on trombone & bombardino; Edson Menezes on bass; Xande Figueiredo on drums; and Marcos Esguleba on percussions.
As in their first, eponymous album, the repertoire here is heavily based on compositions by founding band members Lessa and Neves. The disc opens on a danceable gafieira note with “Chave de Cadeia,” followed by funky Latin jazz in “Clube Savana.” Next there’s a star appearance by sambista Zeca Pagodinho in the band’s signature tune, “Pagode Jazz Sardinha’s Club,” which is augmented with rap interventions hurled forth in that rounded, oily, black carioca inflection. The lyrics live very much in the present, enumerating the hardships of contemporary life.
The samba-choro “Samba Castiço” reties the link to the past, albeit in a thoroughly modern way. Helping keep time are Paulão 7 Cordas on seven-string guitar and Celsinho Silva on pandeiro and tamborim, while flute and trombone take turns with the melodic lines.
The next track is a surprise: flute and muted trombone introduce the preamble to Chico Buarque’s “Joana Francesa.” A tenor sax launches into the melody ever so tenderly, with a riposte from the trombone. Now comes a pure jazz improv on the electric guitar before the sax returns. Bandolins and flute intervene. The sax lets it all fade out. Chico has never sounded so jazzy.
From the mellow to the agitated: “José do Egito” (he of the coat of many colors) is a rousing jazz-choro with exclamatory vocal chorus and frenetic passages interspersed with spoken passages (from the Bible?). And back to the mellow, in the choro-rhythmed “O Dia em que Ela Chegou,” co-authored by Roberto Marques and Eduardo Neves, who play a three-way dialog with the bandolim.
Famed percussionist Esguleba takes center stage in his brief but energetic samba “Suíngue Envolvente,” complete with voice, whistles, and no fewer than fourteen percussion instruments. Equally famous percussionist Trambique joins as special guest. These two make enough noise to sound like a full-fledged escola de samba’s bateria. This is followed by a long and jazzy ska called “Gente de Ilha” and dedicated not to Jamaicans but to residents of Ilha do Governador in Rio de Janeiro. The theme and improvisations are divided between alto sax and trombone, which at times come together in a counterpoint. Midway, a ripple of bateria moves across, to remind us that this is Brazilian music.
“Maxixe, Neném!!!” is the delightful title of an equally delightful maxixe—a real one, although composed by living musicians. It provides the opprtunity to show off mothballed instruments like the bombardino and the banjo. In contrast, the bouncy “Chorinho de Gafieira” is a real oldie (the only one on this disc) by trombonist and bandleader Astor Silva (1922–1968). These two sandwich “Choro Transgênico,” a hovering meditation for alto sax and trombone with strong assistance from an insistent cuíca.
The penultimate track is a medley of three well-known Zeca Pagodinho sambas, with the guest participations of Paulão, Trambique, Osvaldo Cavalo (tamborim), and a rowdy chorus. Ex-Sardinha Lula Galvão joins his former bandmates on the final number, the funky “Olhos d’Além Mar.” When the hour is over, you know you’ve been somewhere.
Pagode Jazz Sardinha’s Club: Sardinhas
(Independent 109.805/Rob Digital; 2004) 62:46 min.
01. Chave de Cadeia (Rodrigo Lessa)
02. Clube Savana (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa)
03. Pagode Jazz Sardinha’s Club (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa/Mauro Aguiar)
04. Samba Castiço (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa)
05. Joana Francesa (Chico Buarque)
06. José do Egito (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa)
07. O Dia em que Ela Chegou (Roberto Marques/Eduardo Neves)
08. Suíngue Envolvente (Marcos Esguleba)
09. Gente de Ilha (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa)
10. Maxixe, Neném!!! (Eduardo Neves/Roberto Marques/Rodrigo Lessa)
11. Choro Transgênico (Eduardo Neves/Rodrigo Lessa)
12. Chorinho de Gafieira (Astor Silva)
13. Não Sou Mais Disso (Jorge Aragão/Zeca Pagodinho)
Faixa Amarela (Jessé Pai/Luiz Carlos/Beto Gago/Zeca Pagodinho)
O Feijão de Dona Neném (Arlindo Cruz/Zeca Pagodinho)
14. Olhos d’Além Mar (Rodrigo Lessa/Eduardo Neves)
__________________________
17:35
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Elis & Tom, Special Edition 2004
To buy or not to buy?
The protagonists
Here’s a recording that needs no introduction or persuasion of any kind. The legendary Elis & Tom, recorded 30 years ago, is on every Brazilian music lover’s desert-island list, often in the number-one position.
The story of the recording is also well known. In 1974, Elis Regina celebrated ten years at Phonogram (Philips’ record division). She had been very good for the record company, and her reward was a trip to Los Angeles, to record with Tom Jobim.
On 2 February 1974, Elis and then-husband Cesar Camargo Mariano flew to LA. With them came Elis’ son João Marcello Bôscoli (now president of Trama), producer Aloysio de Oliveira (the eternal mediator between Brazil and USA), and musicians Hélio Delmiro (guitar), Luizão (bass), and Paulo Braga (drums).
The recordings took place between 22 February and 9 March. Tom wasn’t enamored of the idea of Cesar writing the arrangements and playing electric piano, but he put up with both, although he would have preferred Claus Ogerman and acoustic piano. Aloysio saw to it that Elis and Tom got through the recording sessions without walking out or sending each other to hell.
Among the musicians who participated in the recordings without being given credit in the original LP were guitarist Oscar Castro Neves, flutist Hubert Laws, and saxofonist Jerome Richardson, as well as the now forgotten session strings—two violins, two violas, a cello and a bass.
Thirty years later, Cesar Camargo Mariano spent three months remixing the epocal 8-track tapes in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. The new edition includes a stereo CD and a DVD-Audio. In content they are identical, with the exception of a bonus of “Fotografia” (alternate take) and “Bonita”—available, disappointingly, only on the DVD.
And there’s the rub: to buy or not to buy?
Most of us already have a serviceable copy of Elis & Tom. Whether most of us have a DVD player with 5.1 surround-sound speakers I can’t say. I don’t. The only DVD player (rarely used, I might add) in my possession resides on my trusty old Mac G4 Cube. It plays only DVD-Video.
That leaves the CD, whose sound is nothing short of glorious. Glorious, but without the bonus recordings. It’s one of those irritating marketing ploys. How many people (not counting the diehard Elis fans, of whom there must be several legions) will want to pay for a DVD-CD combo when their equipment is capable of playing only the CD (glorious sound and all)?
It’s wonderful to know that a superior version is available. But until the rest of us are sufficiently equipped, Philips and Trama would be well advised to bring out a stand-alone CD that includes the bonus track.
The good news is that Trama is currently hard at work on the DVD-Video edition of Elis & Tom. That disc promises to feature films from various sources.
Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim: Elis & Tom
Special Edition including DVD-Audio & CD
(Philips/Trama 874-5; 2004) CD: 41:42 min.; DVD: 49:25 min.
01. Águas de Março (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
02. Pois É (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarque)
03. Só Tinha de Ser com Você (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Aloysio de Oliveira)
04. Modinha (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
05. Triste (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
06. Corcovado (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
07. O que Tinha de Ser (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
08. Retrato em Branco e Preto (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarque)
09. Brigas, Nunca Mais (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
10. Por Toda a Minha Vida (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
11. Fotografia (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
12. Soneto de Separação (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
13. Chovendo na Roseira (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
14. Inútil Paisagem (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Aloysio de Oliveira)
DVD bonus
Fotografia (Antonio Carlos Jobim) alternate version
Bonita (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
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13:11
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