Saturday, February 10, 2007

Meirelles e Os Copa 7 - Tropical (1969)

Get set for a really nice record, solid from start to end, including this wonderful cover artwork. A record that was a commercial failure by the time of its release in 1969, being discovered and taken to the place were it should belong between the classic Samba Jazz records only a couple of years ago through a release. Blame it on zecalouro and his small green head to forget this record for such a long time.

This is Meirelles e Os Copa 7 - Tropical (1969), for London, not to be taken as the 70's group Copa 7, this is a expanded J.T. Meirelles Copa 5. Tropical is a very curious record, a Samba Jazz classic based on American tunes, instead of Bossa Nova standards. Several musicians that we are appreciate are on the set, such as: Juarez, Dom Salvador, and many others. It is all explained bellow. This is a really self-explanatory release. Tracks include:

Personnel

Chico Batera
(percussion)
Dom Salvador
(piano)
Helcio Milito
(percussion)
J.T. Meirelles
(flute)
Jorge Arena
(percussion)
Juarez
(sax tenor)
Luna
(percussion)
Maurillio Santos
(trumpet)
Pedro dos Santos
(percussion)
Robertinho Silva
(drums)
Pedro Barroso
(bass)

Track List

01 - Sombrero Sam
02 - Taboo
03 - The Jody Grind
04 - Fuego
05 - Barefoot Sunday Blues
06 - The Gringo
07 - Tropical
08 - Poinciana
09 - On Green Dolphin Street
10 - Summertime



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this album, this is one of my Meireles favorites, unmissable...

Anonymous said...

o baixista é Sergio Barrozo e não Pedro Barroso.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Zeca. Very interesting record, especially for its time.

Do you or the wise Caetano know the composer of track 7 (Tropical)? Would be grateful if you can provide any information on that.

zecalouro said...

Hello primocoe,

I made a few searches and did not find 07 - Tropical composer. Note available on whatmusic.com, amazon, e-bay, etc.

I will check later on. Keep the good work.

Cheers, zeca

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Zeca, it's tough composition to find due to the name and its apparent infrequency of recording by other performers. I was hoping that there would be a credit, at least last name, on the back cover or on the LP label. Do tell if you find out.

Below is my first pass track list with credits for this album (minus 7/Tropical); at least this will be a start.

01 - Sombrero Sam (Charles Lloyd)
02 - Taboo (Margarita Lecuona/Sidney Leith 'Bob' Russell)
03 - The Jody Grind (Horace Silver)
04 - Fuego (Donald Byrd)
05 - Barefoot Sunday Blues (Julian Adderley)
06 - The Gringo (Horace Silver)
07 - Tropical (unknown)
08 - Poinciana (Buddy Bernier/Nat Simon)
09 - On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislaw Kaper/Ned Washington)
10 - Summertime (George Gershwin)

Anonymous said...

It has crossed my mind that perhaps Tropical composer might be JT Meirelles.

One note on distribution archive-
Original ZL dist archive file "06 - Sunday Blues.mp3" is actually "06 - The Gringo (Horace Silver)", and file tagged "05 - Barefoot Blues.mp3" is actually "05 - Barefoot Sunday Blues (Julian Adderley)".

Anonymous said...

A fantastic record and one of the best selling reissues I did at Whatmusic. The sad side though was that this record marked the only time that an artist was actually angry that we reissued a record in a legitimate fashion. After so many years of pirate vinyl and CDs (most by an infamous Russian pirate from Angra do Reis) Whatmusic always sought permission and paid licenses for the albums we reissued.

Most of the Whatmusic releases were from small independent labels simply because it was easy for me to call the owners of a small company like Top Tape and ask to pay them some money.

This record on the other hand was from EMI. I went to EMI with a list of over 100 albums to reissue. They were so slow and stupid that we only ever released this one.

And guess what, the idiots at EMI UK who had no idea who or what this record was never cashed the cheque we paid them!

Poor Meireles ended up being right to be upset. He had more insight into the behaviour of EMI than I did. His came from years of bitter experience.

Gary

PS If I remember Tropical is indeed a Meireles composition.