Last week, in Brazil, I went to a music store to buy cds for my husband (he’s one of those old-fashioned people who like to have the ‘real thing’ in their hands rather than only streaming music from the internet). One of the cds I bought for him was the most recent album by Vinícius Cantuária, Samba Carioca. Vinícius is quite well known in the New York jazz scene, having moved there in the 1990s. Before that, he was a respected musician in Brazil, with among others a big ‘hit parade’ song to his name in the 1980s (‘Só você´, not bad but basically a bit silly), one song which became famous in the voice of Caetano Veloso (‘Lua e Estrela’) and a beautiful collaboration with Chico Buarque (‘Ludo Real’). But it seems fair to say that his jazzy turn since he moved to New York has been a very positive turn in his career.
Samba Carioca is a great album,one of those that you listen to from beginning to end. It goes back to the smoothness of Bossa Nova, and features an all-star lineup of accompanying musicians, such as Bill Frisell (with whom Vinícius recorded an album released in 2011, Lagrimas Mexicanas) , João Donato and Marcos Valle, among others. Those of you who find Bossa Nova a bit soporific are not likely to enjoy this album (and to be frank, it is a tiny little bit ‘Brazilian music for gringos’ from my point of view), but in the genre it is definitely the best album in a long time. Here are two songs from the album, ‘Fugiu’ and ‘Só ficou saudade’ (with beautiful guitar playing by Frisell).
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