Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Pedro Paulo Castro Neves & Michel Legrand - Pedro Paulo Castro Neves & Michel Legrand (1985)

I think this album is of a great curiosity, at least it is the feedback given for a group of friends since I started showing them a couple of days ago. I think it is also widely unknown for many people, even for fans of Michel Legrand. Being open and honest, little I know about Michel Legrand and All Music says he is a French composer, arranger, musician that made his fame writing for films, being an occasional Jazz artists, with a significant contribution in the style. Pedro Paulo Castro Neves is Oscar Castro Neves brother, and this album is his debut LP as a singer. Let's see.

This is Pedro Paulo Castro Neves & Michel Legrand - Pedro Paulo Castro Neves & Michel Legrand (1985), for Pointer, featuring a repertoire based on Brazilian standards with Michel Legrand, Oscar Castro Neves, Guinga and Egberto Gismonti compositions. Reading liner notes written by Michel Legrand, it is clear he plays the role of Pedro Paulo Castro Neves mentor, making arrangements, playing piano and making a duet with Pedro Paulo, performing nice scats on 05 - Canto de Ossanha - Berimbau by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes. Recorded in Brazil, the session had great musicians, such as Lilian Carmona, Zeca Assumpcao and the legendary Joao Parayba from Trio Mocoto. Tracks include:

Personnel

Michel Legrand
(piano, keyboards, arrangements, voice)
Joao Parahyba
(percussion)
Lilian Carmona
(drums, percussion)
Zeca Assumpcao
(bass)
Ze Paulo
(violao)
Antenor Granda
(guitar)

Track List

01 - A Felicidade (Antonio Carlos Jobim / Vinicius de Moraes)
02 - How do you Keep the Music Playing (Michel Legrand / Alan / M. Bergman)
03 - Morrer de Amor (Oscar Castro Neves / Lucercy Fiorini)
04 - Amour, Amour (Michel Legrand / Jacques Demy)
05 - Canto de Ossanha (Baden Powell / Vinicius de Moraes) - Berimbau (Baden Powell / Vinicius de Moraes)
06 - His Eyes, Her Eyes (Michel Legrand / Alan / M. Bergman)
07 - Passos e Assovios (Guinga / Paulo Cesar Pinheiro)
08 - The Way she Makes me Feel (Michel Legrand / Alan / M. Bergman)
09 - Auto Retrato (Egberto Gismonti / Geraldo Carneiro)

2 comments:

oui said...

Michel Legrand is undoubtedly the greatest french composer who's still alive today. his palmares is outstanding: he signed the famous music for movies "the thomas crown affair", "les demoiselles de rochefort", "les parapluies de cherbourg", "peau d'âne" and countless other absolutely blinding scores, including many musicals. i am extremely surprised (almost shocked!) that he seems not much known in your spheres, as he's been internationnaly reknown since at least 20 years. his characteristic is to be an all-terrain composer, with an extremely wide range of styles, but he's adding his own very particular touch every time, that can be identified after a few notes only. he's also a huge jazz piano player who've played with the greatest artists on earth, including miles davis and lalo schifrin. he's probably the last living giant. thanks for this post.

Anonymous said...

I've always been most curiou about this pairing: how did it come to pass that Pedro Paulo Castro Neves came to making a really late debut album with such a genius of the world of arranging? And what else has P.P. Castro Neves done ?
RED (Ireland).