Thursday, July 22, 2010
The sunny side of sambaMarcos Ozzellin releases his debut disc, O Samba Transcendental.
Marcos Ozzellin, Gabriel Aguiar (l) & Felipe Reznik (r)
The samba revival that has spawned so many music clubs in Lapa is also reaping a bountiful harvest of new albums by promising young artists. One of the latter is the talented singer Marcos Ozzellin, who brings his attractive baritone and natural swing to bear on samba, bossa nova, and MPB. A native of São Bernardo do Campo, in Greater São Paulo, he began his career in Sampa during the 1990s before moving to Rio de Janeiro by way of Portugal.
Born to sing, Ozzellin studied with the paulista vocalists Rosa Estevez, Ná Ozzetti, and Suzana Salles, also participating in several São Paulo chorales. In his early Rio days, Ozzellin made ends meet by working in a fabric store. It so happens that one of the store’s clients was Ithamara Koorax. She recognized his talent and became his mentor. Since then, Ozzellin has been taking part in Koorax’s shows, as well as developing a following of his own in Lapa clubs such as Centro Cultural Memórias do Rio, where the photo above was shot.
Among his influences, Ozzellin cites Dorival Caymmi, Noel Rosa, Ary Barroso, Candeia, and Vinicius de Moraes. It’s no wonder, then, that the work of these songwriters found its way into the singer’s debut disc, O Samba Transcendental de Marcos Ozzellin. The songs were selected by the album’s producer, Arnaldo DeSouteiro, who wanted to display samba’s lighthearted face, positive moods, beautiful melodies and harmonies.
The repertoire is redolent of interlocking associations. If the disc opens with Donato’s jazzy “Sambou... Sambou” (1962), it must close with “Saudações” (1974), which Donato’s fellow pre-Bossa Nova jazz pianist Johnny Alf was the first to record. Between the two, there are several 1930s and ’40s classic sambas, beginning with “Treze de Ouro” (1949), originally recorded by the male vocal group Anjos do Inferno and more recently performed by Donato’s and Alf’s 1950s pal, João Gilberto.
There follow two saucy songs made famous by Carmen Miranda—“O Dengo que a Nega Tem” (1940) and “Samba Rasgado” (1938)—and a pair of Baden & Vinicius songs, “Deixa” (1963) and the Afro-samba “Bocochê” (1966), the latter in a lovely duet with Ithamara Koorax that recalls the Sandroni-Sacramento rendition in Saravá, Baden Powell!.
The 1930s are represented by Noel Rosa with “Com Que Roupa?” (1930) and “O ‘X’ do Problema” (1936) and by Ary Barroso with “Quando Eu Penso na Bahia” (1937), the latter another Carmen Miranda vehicle.
From the 1970s emerges perhaps the most contemplative samba in this album: Candeia’s “Preciso Me Encontrar,” immortalized by Cartola in 1976, with the help of Dino Sete Cordas and bassoonist Aírton Barbosa. From the 1980s we get Padeirinho’s “Como Será o Ano 2000?” When Nara Leão recorded this samba in 1983, Brazil was bent under the yoke of military rule; the lyrics only obliquely express the hope for better days.
Como será daqui para o ano 2000?
Como será o nosso querido Brasil?
Como será o morro sem os barracôes?
Como será o Rio sem as tradições?
Será que no ano 2000 as escolas de samba irão desfilar?
Será que haverá carnaval? Será?
Daqui para o ano 2000 só Deus sabe como será
E o povo do Brasil verá
Como será?
Optimism gains momentum in Nelson Angelo’s “A Vida Leva” (1994), a manifesto for living life with joy, passion, and generosity, leaving utopias aside. It’s fitting that the penultimate track brings us “Edmundo,” Aloysio de Oliveira’s blithe version of “In the Mood” (1954), to round out the earlier Carmen Miranda trio.
The arrangements, pared down to the essentials—voice, guitar, and percussion—are satisfying. The liner notes contain all the essential information, including lyrics. Listen to several tracks here.
A side note: as in other recent recordings, I observed here the inscrutable hand of music publishers wreaking havoc with songwriter credits. Arnaldo DeSouteiro tells me that, for imponderable contractual reasons, Aloysio de Oliveira’s name couldn’t be mentioned in the Brazilian edition’s credits for “In the Mood.” Quite separately, I couldn’t help noticing that J. Pereira has ceded his place to Wilson Fernandes Falcão in the “Samba Rasgado” credits. Why? They may have been one and the same man, but only the publisher knows for sure. Who’s the publisher? Funny you should ask. Yes, it’s Mangione, yet again.
Marcos Ozzellin: O Samba Transcendental de Marcos Ozzellin
(Jazz Station Records JSR 6057; 2010) 49:12 min.
Produced & arranged by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
01. Sambou... Sambou (João Donato/João Mello)
02. Treze de Ouro (Herivelto Martins/Marino Pinto)
03. O Dengo que a Nega Tem (Dorival Caymmi)
04. Samba Rasgado (Portello Juno/Wilson Fernandes Falcão aka J. Pereira)
05. Deixa (Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes)
06. Bocochê (Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes) – w/ Ithamara Koorax
07. Com Que Roupa? (Noel Rosa)
08. Preciso Me Encontrar (Candeia)
09. Quando Eu Penso na Bahia (Ary Barroso)
10. O “X” do Problema (Noel Rosa)
11. Como Será o Ano 2000? (Oswaldo Vitalino de Oliveira “Padeirinho”)
12. A Vida Leva (Nelson Angelo)
13. Edmundo [In the Mood] (Joe Garland/Andy Razaf/Portuguese lyrics: Aloysio de Oliveira)
14. Saudações (Egberto Gismonti/Paulo Cesar Pinheiro)
Musicians
Marcos Ozzellin (vocals)
Geraldo Martins, Rodrigo Lima, Gabriel Aguiar (guitar)
Wilson Chaplin, Felipe Reznik, Arnaldo DeSouteiro (percussion)
Guest: José Roberto Bertrami (keyboard on track 11)
__________________________
23:20
 
Friday, July 9, 2010
Caymmi with love and jazzKenia salutes a giant.
Kenia and her musicians in the studio
How fortunate we are to be here and now. Fifteen years ago, there was only a handful of Dorival Caymmi CDs to be had. The songwriter’s own LPs were long out of circulation, and few tribute albums had been recorded.
In the intervening years, the omission has been redressed. In 2000, EMI reissued Caymmi’s albums in a handsome box set. Caymmi tribute CDs of the past dozen years include vocal interpretations (Jussara Silveira, Rosa Passos, Olívia Hime, Cláudio Nucci, Mateus Sartori, without mentioning those of Caymmi’s illustrious offspring, Nana, Dori, and Danilo) and instrumental ones (Tomás Improta, Grupo Zarabatana).
Caymmi’s body of work, from the maritime songs and the Bahian sambas to the urbane, Rio-based sambas and sambas-canções, is stamped with the composer’s individuality. It is the sambas and sambas-canções that singer Kenia Ashby chose to interpret in her new CD, Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi.
Beautifully arranged by pianist Fernando Merlino, the album exudes jazz flavors. Piano is the chief accompanying instrument, with bass, percussion, and an occasional guitar beefing up the rhythm section.
The disc opens on a swinging note with the samba “Eu Não Tenho Onde Morar” (1960). Caymmi’s own interpretation is lighthearted, belying the protagonist’s seemingly tragic condition of homelessness until the final line reveals that he’s a womanizer who’s been kicked out of the house (Maria mora com as outras/ Quem paga o quarto sou eu.) The refrain (Eu não tenho onde morar/ É por isso que moro na areia) is usually sung in call and response, the first line undertaken by the soloist and second by a chorus. Kenia sings the entire refrain on her own, and the quadruple repetition casts a hypnotic spell that is hard to shake off.
The second track is a traditional children’s song about a spinning top, “Roda Pião,” which Caymmi adapted in 1939 as a samba for Carmen Miranda (he participated in the recording) and subsequentley re-recorded in 1957. This song’s refrain also requires a response, and this time Kenia brings in four musicians’ children to serve as chorus.
In 1965, Caymmi spent several months in the U.S. and recorded the Warner LP Caymmi and The Girls From Bahia, with orchestral arrangements by Bill Hitchcock. In that album he sang “...das Rosas” for the first time, backed up by Quarteto em Cy, the latter singing the refrain of the English version written by Ray Gilbert. Kenia sings Gilbert’s “And Roses and Roses” with the Portuguese refrain. Her exquisite phrasing and Merino’s spare and lovely piano accompaniment rescue this song from the sentimentality into which it is so easily liable to fall.
Tracks 4 to 7 were all composed in the early 1940s for male vocal groups. “Samba da Minha Terra” (1940), a hit for Bando da Lua, is one of Caymmi’s towering compositions, containing what might be the songwriter’s most quotable lines: Quem não gosta de samba/ Bom sujeito não é:/ É ruim da cabeça/ Ou doente do pé. Kenia’s interpretation gains vital force from the intervention of Jay Ashby’s trombone. Equally swinging is the recipe-samba “Vatapá” (1942), first perfomed by Anjos do Inferno. Kenia’s singing here is controlled; with the exception stretching the rhythm on the word Vatapá in the refrain, the singer stays within the piano’s beat.
“Requebre Que Eu Dou um Doce” (1941) was another Anjos do Inferno vehicle. The group was known for its pistom nasal—nasal imitation of a muted trumpet’s tone. Jay Ashby, who arranged this samba for Kenia’s album, introduces a similarly delicious and danceable note of gafieira by way of his trombone. “Você Já Foi a Bahia?” (1941) was side A of “Requebre Que Eu Dou um Doce”—two monster hits on a single 78-rpm disc. Kenia lends her own voice to the choral backup of “Requebre” and permits herself more freedom in her inflections than she did in the preceding three sambas. The piano echoes her speechlike utterances with punctuated responses.
The samba-canção “Sábado em Copacabana” (1951) is one of Caymmi’s most evocative songs (his putative partner, Carlos Guinle, had nothing to do with it other than being Caymmi’s friend). It is forever identified with the velvety voice of Lúcio Alves, accompanied by Radamés Gnattali’ piano and string orchestra. Kenia’s rendition gives the song its due, from the tender longing expressed in voice and piano to the muted percussion that doesn’t quite turn it into a bolero.
“O Dengo Que a Nega Tem” (1940), a samba recorded by Carmen Miranda and chorus, receives here Kenia’s multiplied voice as backup. “Acontece Que Eu Sou Baiano” (1943), one of Caymmi’s most exuberant sambas in the voice of Anjos do Inferno (and more recently in that of João Gilberto), receives here a fairly straightforward reading. The humor missing from the vocals comes through in Leo Traversa’s bass. Would that there had been more of it.
“Nunca Mais” (1949) is another soulful samba-canção introduced by Lúcio Alves. Kenia shines here, conveying infinite yearning in a restrained interpretation. With “Doralice” (1945), we’re back to the syncopated samba of Anjos do Inferno (and João Gilberto). Merlino’s piano is the star in Kenia’s recording, launching into a joyful solo midway through the track.
The carefree samba “Maracangalha” (1956), a huge carnaval hit in 1957, earned Caymmi the title of Best Composer of the Year. As in “Acontece Que Eu Sou Baiano,” Kenia’s reading is more understated than the song warrants, but the percussion and the piano liven things up considerably. The same may be said for “A Vizinha do Lado” (1946), which is a lustful samba that deserves a corresponding intepretation.
Closer to the heart is the samba-canção “Marina” (1947), which Kenia delivers with great delicacy and feeling. It’s a fitting conclusion to this well-thought-out and deftly executed album.
Lyrics in Portuguese and in English translation are available on Kenia’s website.
Kenia Ashby: Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi
(Mooka Records M001030; 2010) 50 min.
Arrangements by Fernando Merlino & Jay Ashby (track 6)
01. Eu Não Tenho Onde Morar (Dorival Caymmi)
02. Roda Pião (Traditional/arr. Dorival Caymmi)
03. And Roses and Roses (Dorival Caymmi/Ray Gilbert)
04. Samba da Minha Terra (Dorival Caymmi)
05. Vatapá (Dorival Caymmi)
06. Requebre Que Eu Dou um Doce (Dorival Caymmi)
07. Você Já Foi a Bahia? (Dorival Caymmi)
08. Sábado em Copacabana (Dorival Caymmi/Carlos Guinle)
09. O Dengo Que a Nega Tem (Dorival Caymmi)
10. Acontece Que Eu Sou Baiano (Dorival Caymmi)
11. Nunca Mais (Dorival Caymmi)
12. Doralice (Dorival Caymmi/Antônio Almeida)
13. Maracangalha (Dorival Caymmi)
14. A Vizinha do Lado (Dorival Caymmi)i
15. Marina (Dorival Caymmi)
Musicians
Fernando Merlino, piano
Leo Traversa, bass
Jay Ashby, percussion & trombone
Airto Moreira & Lucas Ashby, percussion
Eric Susoeff & Marty Ashby, guitar
__________________________
19:10
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Uma delíciaOmar Jubran plays Sacramento’s lesser-known pearls on Olhar Brasileiro.
I’ve always had the greatest respect for Omar Jubran, the science teacher who single-handedly, through Herculean effort, digitized, restored, and produced Noel Pela Primeria Vez, a collection of 14 double CDs containing 229 recordings of Noel Rosa’s songs. Jubran spent ten long years on this work, and several more doing for Ary Barroso what he’d done for Noel Rosa. Unfortunately, no funding has been found for releasing Jubran’s proposed 20-CD Ary collection.
Since early 2006, Jubran has been producing and presenting the music program Olhar Brasileiro on Rádio USP FM in São Paulo. As can be expected from a perfectionist like Jubran, the program is extraordinarily well research and produced, and the content is of the highest quality and good taste.
On the 4th of July, Jubran cast a retrospective look at the career of Marcos Sacramento, and once again he’s shown that Olhar Brasileiro stands head and shoulders above most radio programs. The musical selections—none of them obvious—consist of Sacramento’s lesser-known recordings made over the past 24 years.
There are memorable participations, such as “Promessa” and “Valsa do Meu Subúrbio” (Custódio Mesquita/Evaldo Ruy) from Custódio Mesquita—Prazer em Conhecê-lo (1986), “E o Juiz Apitou” (Wilson Batista/Antônio Almeida) from Estácio & Flamengo—100 Anos de Samba e Amor (1995), and “Véspera de Natal” (Adoniran Barbosa) from Natal Bem Brasileiro (2008).
There are recordings with Clara Sandroni, like Não Quero Saber Mais Dela (Sinhô) from Lira Carioca’s disc É Sim, Sinhô, “Paulista de Macaé” (Pedro de Sá Pereira) from Lira Carioca’s Notáveis Desconhecidos (2002), and “Bocoché” (Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes) from the duo CD Saravá, Baden Powell! (2002).
From Sacramento’s solo CDs, Jubran selected “Vela no Breu” (Paulinho da Viola/Sergio Natureza) and “Morena” (Mauricio Carrilho/Paulo Cesar Pinheiro), both from A Modernidade da Tradição (1994); “Pra Ver o Futebol” (Paulo Baiano/Marcos Sacramento) from Caracane (1998); “Um Brinde à Solidão” (Carlos Fuchs/Marcos Sacramento) from Fossa Nova (2005); “Dama do Cabaré” (Noel Rosa) and “Festa da Penha” (Cartola/Adalberto Alves de Souza “Asobert”) from Sacramentos (2006); “Na Cabeça” (Luiz Flavio Alcofra/Marcos Sacramento) and Último Desejo (Noel Rosa) from Na Cabeça (2009).
In short, Jubran regales us with a very fine parade of old and new Brazilian songs that few music lovers have had the opportunity to hear. All show off Sacramento’s range as interpreter and, on occasion, as lyricist. The narration, in Jubran’s old-fashioned paulista accent, provides only essential information. No extraneous chat and no bragaddocio here.
When you’ve listened to this program, browse in the Olhar Brasileiro archives. You’re bound to find a lot more of interest there.
_________________________
18:36
Thursday, July 1, 2010
How songs are madeNew books reveal the work behind the scenes.
Suely Mesquita (photo: Caetano Vidal) | 
Ruy Godinho |
On the face of it, Ruy Godinho and Suely Mesquita have little in common. She’s a carioca who lives in Niterói, he’s a paraense who settled in Brasília. She writes creative pop songs and sings them in her rich, practiced voice (listen to Suely’s second solo CD, Microswing, on her website). He produces videos and radio programs that focus on Brazil’s traditional musical heritage (listen to his Roda de Choro programs online).
Each in his or her own way has made and continues to make significant contributions to Brazilian culture. And each has a new book revolving around the making of songs.
Ruy Godinho just brought out the second of two volumes called Então, Foi Assim? The first volume, published in 2008 and now in its third printing, includes the background stories of 80 Brazilian songs, both new and old, accompanied by their lyrics. The second volume offers an additional 61 stories.
The idea for these volumes was born in 1997, when Godinho co-produced the music program Estação Brasil on Rádio Cultura FM in Brasília. The program included a segment called A Origem da Música, with information about the origin of songs obtained through interviews and research.
Here we find stories about tunes as old as “Iara” (Anacleto de Medeiros) and as contemporary as “Brasil” (Cazuza/Nilo Romero/George Israel); as regional as “Eu Só Quero um Xodó” (Dominguinhos/Anastácia) and as cosmopolitan as “Lígia” (Tom Jobim); as personal as “Drão” (Gilberto Gil) and as communal as “Madureira Chorou” (Carvalhinho/Júlio Monteiro).
 
These welcome additions to the Brazilian music lover’s library require knowledge of the Portuguese language. Suely Mesquita’s book, Sexo Puro: A Life In Brazilian Song, was written in English and published in the United States. Unlike the Godinho volumes, it focuses exclusively on Mesquita’s own compositions, written alone or in partnership.
The narrative, beginning with autobiographical reminiscences followed by a captioned pictorial section, emerged from interviews the songwriter gave to Bob Gaulke, an American school teacher and musician who admires her work to the extent of having initiated this project, also writing and publishing the book. The prosaic storytelling only occasionally reflects glimmers of its subject’s personality. What’s missing from the narrative is the creative spark so abundant in Suely Mesquita’s songs. Had Suely written her own story, it might have emerged funnier, deeper, more moving. As it is, the book Sexo Puro is not likely to engage the reader who isn’t already a Suely Mesquita fan.
Happily, the book comes with a compilation CD of 19 tracks, many of them either previously unreleased or difficult to obtain. Respresenting various phases of Suely’s career and featuring her singing as well as that of her partners, the disc is a rich potpourri of contemporary song and a delight to the ear.
Think of it not as a book with a companion CD but as a CD wrapped in a hefty package of liner notes. Whoever buys it will enjoy not only the music but the increasingly rare luxury of reading the printed lyrics in both the original and in English translation and finding out how each song was created.
Sexo Puro: A Life in Brazilian Song
Suely Mesquita Inerviewed by Bob Gaulke
(Lesma e Lula Press; 2010)
CD tracks:
01. Qualquer Lugar (Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
02. Minha Dalva de Oliveira (Celso Fonseca/Suely Mesquita)
Celso Fonseca
03. Morrer de Bem (Rodrigo Campello/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
04. Porta Aberta (Arícia Mess/Aurélio Dias/Suely Mesquita)
Arícia Mess
05. Porcelana (Kali C./Dudu Caribé/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
06. Batata (Luís Capucho/Suely Mesquita)
Luís Capucho
07. Latim (Suely Mesquita)
Lucinha Turnbull
08. Pisca ((Zeca Baleiro/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
09. Forças de Angola (Paulo Baiano/Suely Mesquita)
Ryta de Cássia
10. TV Que Ninguém Vê (Glauco Lourenço/Suely Mesquita)
Glauco Lourenço
11. Castelo de Areia (Marcela Biasi/Suely Mesquita)
Marcela Biasi
12. Bruxelas (Paulo Baiano/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
13. Romena (Luís Capucho/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
14. Sem Capotta (Eugenio Dale/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita & Eugenio Dale
15. Bala de Rima (Bethi Albano/Suely Mesquita)
Bethi Albano
16. Mais Música (Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
17. Moderno Amor (Mário Sève/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
18. Samba de Branco (Bethi Albano/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
19. Que Qui Tu Tá; Interesse (Rodrigo Campello/Suely Mesquita)
Suely Mesquita
__________________________
14:31
|
|
