Margareth Menezes and Music of Brazil

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Originally posted by JeremyB:
Anybody got some recommendations for a love affair with Brazilian music?

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here are a few things that i have enjoyed from my very limited knowledge of brazilian music. the past few months, i've been listening to a couple nice pieces:

elis regina - a arte de elis regina:
classic "pop vocal" music. the recording isn't the best but the music is good. and there is really something about her voice and style.

bebel gilberto - tanto tempo:
the subtleness of this record is really great. silky vocals and lush warm rhythms..

if you want to go back a little further in time, check out the big names: antonio carlos jobim, joao gilberto (and astrud), gilberto gil and jorge ben.

brazil classics 1 - beleza tropical (compiled by david byrne) is a fantastic collection and gets stuck in perpetual play on occasion.

if you like things on the lounge side, i'm sure the good dr. exotica can recommend some stellar sergio mendes and walt wanderly lps.

on the louder side, sepultura is an amazing band and could poeticly be referred to as heavy metal world music. on many tracks, they combine an energetic speed/death metal sound with indiginous style drumming and chanting. some of their songs are even recorded with xavantes indian tribe. beneath the remains, chaos a.d., and roots are essential releases.

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if you like things on the lounge side, i'm sure the good dr. exotica can recommend some stellar sergio mendes and walt wanderly lps.

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If you are looking for a single Sergio Mendes album, go for Greatest Hits of Brasil '66. This album has his biggest as well as his classic covers of Scarborough Fair as well as some Beatles stuff (With a Little Help From My Friends, Fool on the Hill, and Day Tripper. His covers are without doubt far superior to the originals by Lennon and that other Beatles guy... Go for the LP, don't bother with the CD if you are interested in true sonic superiority.

Walter Wanderly is also pretty easy - his debut album Rain Forest (green with a weird bird and tiki on the inset) is the one to grab. It contains Summer Samba (the summer song of 1966 according to numerous Gemini astronauts) as well as his cover of The Girl from Ipanema. Again, go for the vinyl. If you must buy a CD, Verve released what looks like a pretty good compilation of his work. It has a weird piece of cheesecake (or some other mystery food/cake) on the front.

Erik

Joyce is another Brazilian artist you may wish to check out. One of her recent albums, Tudo Bonito, is very good.

Toots Thielemans did a couple of albums on Brazilian music with the local composers/musicians -- The Brasil Project and The Brasil Project II. Worth listening to.

Teck

Thanks Erik, teck and soundzero. Can't wait for the weekend to check this lot out at record shops!

Jeremy

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Originally posted by JeremyB:
Thanks Erik, teck and soundzero. Can't wait for the weekend to check this lot out at record shops!

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have you found any good used vinyl in SD? 'off the record' is ok but a bit pricey for the usually mediocre condition. lou's in encinitas is one of my favorite music stores in the country for quality per square foot (next to 'aquarius' in sf and 'other music' in nyc), but only for cd's as the vinyl tends to be picked over. i've been to a couple other shops in the hillcrest/north park area, but the selection and quality were less than desirable.

any suggestions? i get to san diego every couple months.

thanks,
brad

If you are adventurous, try the swap meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday Mornings. Its a year or so since I went but then there were a few stalls selling used vinyl very inexpensively.

Of course it's a bit of a crap shoot as to quality, but that's half the fun anyway!

Good Luck,

Martin

Lou's is probably the best, as you say it gets picked over but it definitely improved a little, about a year or so ago so may be worth going back if you haven't been. I live right close by, and the new stuff comes along in waves, like the ocean near it! I think what happens is that the new stuff comes in and goes out rather quickly and is even intercepted before it hits the racks. The big problem is they don't have a "just in" section for LPs like they do for CDs.

Have you tried Spin in Carlsbad? Their CD selection is actually far better than Lou's (can you believe it) for some CD genres, they have well stocked racks LPs for $3 up. The give-away section is better than lous - 25c up. I've made some pretty good finds here but of course it's picked over. Oceanside Spin was no comparison to Carlsbad the last time I went there about 2 years ago, but things could have changed.

Best out of town used record shop for cheap/good quality used is probably Rockaway in Phoenix or LA (also in Australia but I haven't made it there yet!) both of which are considered "local" to San Diego.

There's one place I've never been to, I think it is in El Cahon and is more collector oriented (inc 78s) so I would expect, over-priced.

Rockaway used to be great for classical, but the owner seems to keep nearly everything he comes across for himself. I gave up after buying about 100 classical LPs there without seeing any restocking. Look out for their 50% off sales though which makes it worth the visit.

Good luck!

Jeremy

You want recommendations? Hey, I got your recommendations right here ...


Milton Nascimento - Milton (Minas) [1976], and its companion, Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer

Milton Nascimento - Clube da Esquina, Vol. 1 & 2

Ivan Lins - Awa Yio

Ivan Lins - Juntos


I could go on and on about these albums, but suffice to say that they are all chock full of some of the most life-affirming music I've ever heard in my life.