Saturday, October 20, 2007

Bossa Rio - Alegria! (1970)

We have been very formal in the last couple of days trying to understand the origins of Bossa Nova, making associations like scientists and delivering some complex music. Tomorrow is Saturday and it is time to make a short break. I said short break, because I like those Joao Gilberto discussions and the very old music we have been gathering to Loronix.

This album is one of the first made available at Loronix. He was there at the end of the row waiting for a rescue. However, he was not considered since a repost demand upgrades and I did not have this album. The panorama changed this week and I even made a challenge to identify musicians, very nice challenge with several friends participation until the final missing piece of the puzzle, solved by Mr. G. Let's see.

This is Bossa Rio - Alegria (1970), for Blue Thumb Records, the second and last Bossa Rio LP a Brazilian group produced by Sergio Mendes that cannot be taken by mistake as the instrumental only group also lead by Sergio Mendes, the Bossa Rio Sextet. Sergio Mendes has a strong influence on Bossa Rio, the group sounds like Sergio Mendes Brasil '66, but in my humble parrot opinion, Alegria is nicer to hear than any other Brasil '66 LP, perhaps the participation of part of Bossa Tres (Octavio Bailly Jr. and Ronie Mesquita), Manfredo Fest, Pery Ribeiro and Gracinha Leporacce, a very nice team. Tracks include:

Personnel

Ronie Mesquita
(drums)

Octavio Bailly Jr.
(bass)

Manfredo Fest
(keyboards)

Gracinha Leporacce & Pery Ribeiro
(vocals)

Dwight Dickerson
(piano)

Sergio Mendes
(producer)

Track List

01 - Spinning Wheel (D. Thomas)
02 - Zazueira (Jorge Ben "Jorge Benjor")
03 - Girl Talk (B. Troup / N. Hefti)
04 - The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (B. Weisman / D. Wayne / M. Garrett)
05 - Que Pena (Jorge Ben "Jorge Benjor")
06 - With You Love Now (Mustang Cor de Sangue) (Marcos Valle / Paulo Sergio Valle / Vrs. Norman Gimbel)
07 - Open You Arms (Andança) (Danilo Caymmi / Edmundo Souto / Paulinho Tapajós / Vrs. Jay Livingston / Vrs. R. Evans)
08 - Eleanor Rigby (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
09 - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Burt Bacharach / David)
10 - Blackbird (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)