Antonio Carlos Jobim - Wave

When you’re known for and heralded as the person who created the bossa nova style of music then you’re definitely someone significant. Long before Brazilian music was catching on Antonio Carlos Jobim was creating lush, ornate land-scapes of the beautiful country he was from. Wave was one of those first albums from the 60s that I really connected with, an album that was as pretty as it was masterful. It’s easily his most successful album to date and the House Mouse lady has a vinyl copy of this that is the same design but in red, like this:

I’ve always wanted to grab it because it is one my favorite albums but that’d be selfish of me, no? Anyway, I just got my vinyl copy of the new Arcade Fire album so I’m probably gonna be playing that non-stop for another week – which means I had to write about this other brilliant album since it was still in my deck. Think of your traditional Brazilian bossa nova but with an orchestration that features Ron Carter as your bassist and the only wind instruments are some lovely flutes & piccolo, trombones and one French horn. Sure, there’s a ton of strings on top, too, but listening to how fresh and smooth it all sounds on “Batidinha” makes Brazil sound so majestic.


Every single song is really special; “Lamento” is his only vocal and it’s definitely terrific. While every song is based on something from his life in Brazil, “Mojave” was written with our very own Mojave Desert in mind. French horns and Jobim’s piano battle for the melody with the bellowing of the strings always rustling underneath them; the light flute on top is a delicate touch but one that signals the cold winds in the desert at night, check it here:


- Bryan

I ♥ Brazil

So I had this post I never got around to putting up accompanied by an ill mix I made for Carnival. It had some amazing Brazilian cuts on it that, well you just can’t miss out on. Instead of getting into a lengthy discussion of how amazing the beaches are in Brazil, or how the beautiful game is played with more beauty then anywhere else in the world, or how the women are gorgeous …. I mean I’m not even gonna mention how the next world cup is gonna be in Brazil, or how the world’s lungs are located within its borders, or how delicious caiperinhas are, or how the women, oh the women….I’ll just let the Brazil’s music speak for itself.
First up we got Sergio Mendes and the Brasil ‘66 with the classic tune entitled “Mas Que Nada” which translates roughly into, “What’s with that”. The song is basically about a dude trying to get to the dance floor cause some real live ass shit is playing and everybody’s in his way. So he’s like “Mas que nada, Sai da minha frente, eu quero passer, Pois o samba esta animado ,O que eu quero e sambar” which translates roughly to “ What’s with that, Get out of my way, I need to pass, Cause the samba is moving me, I want you and I wanna samba!!”

Sergio Mendes made “Mas Que Nada” famous, however it was actually written by Jorge Ben in 1963. Another tune of Ben’s that I absolutely love is “Eu Vou Torcer”. It appears on one of my favorite Brazilian albums of all time, “A Tábua De Esmeralda”, which is one of those special albums you can play beginning to end with out wanting to remotely skip a track.

If Isaac Hayes, Barry White or any of the other American soul brothers of the 70’s had a contemporary in Brazil it was dude right here. Tim Maia started his musical career in ’70 and kept making records up into the late 90’s. The emotion he put in his voice and funky soulful compositions he sang on are an amazing example of how soul and funk reached almost every corner of the globe. This is Brazilian Soul-Funk at its absolute best!

So like all great musical styles there are magnificent occurrences when great minds come together and make amazing records. For the neo-soul there’s the SOULQUARIANS and for Brazilian music aficionados there is Clube da Esquina. Basically a creative musical outfit headed by Milton Nascimento, it’s also the title of Nascimento’s 10th studio album. On the album there is a track that has to be one of my all time favorite songs. I’m grown man, a father, whatever, but every time I hear this song, my eyes start welling up, it’s that powerful. It’s even more powerful after learning the meaning, which is basically about not giving up on your dreams, not looking back and knowing what you were really capable of.