Listen List, 1
Here’s what I’m hoping to pay close attention to this week:
Quarteto Novo Quarteto Novo (1967)
Dafeldecker, Fennesz, Siewert, Stangl Phonographics 1-5 (2002)
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton Knives Don’t Have Your Back (2006)
Whitest Boy Alive Dreams (2006)
Rodan Rusty (1994)
Egberto Gismonti, Naná Vasconcelos & Hermeto Pascoal Live in Berlin (1982)
The Bees [US] High Society (2006)
I’ve listened through the Quarteto Novo album once already, but I’m hoping to get to know it a little better. The world of Brazilian jazz and improvisational music is pretty new to me, but thanks to Dom Um Romão’s appearance on a mix CD recently, I’ve become attached. Some dude on Amazon had this to say about the Quarteto Novo:
An impressive late-’60s Brazilian jazz album, featuring early work by percussionist Airto Moreira, multi-instrumental madman, Humberto Pascoal, and the politically-inclined MPB songwriter Geraldo Vandre, along with guitarists Theo De Barros and Heraldo Do Monte . The album opens with “O Ovo,” a brisk update of the turn-of-the-century “choro” style popularized by Pixinguinha, Dunga and other Brazilian musical pioneers. The album gradually progresses into more modern, straightforward jazz material (which isn’t as much fun) and even a Luiz Gonzaga forro tune. The playing throughout is very rich, well recorded, and vastly superior to many of their Braz-jazz contemporaries, even dipping into a mellow Vince Guaraldi-style vibe. This isn’t just a cool footnote into the early careers of several of Brazil’s most important musicians, it’s also a very enjoyable, well-performed album.
Sounds good to me. The rest of this week’s stuff is either related to my Brazilian habit, new, or something old I’d like to revisit (so far Rodan is treating me very well, and Haines is putting imaginary gun fingers in my mouth). Updates later … if I live that long!
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