Brazil On Guitar

Stan Getz once asked Brazilian conductor Júlio Medaglia, "Why doesn't Baden Powell move to Europe or the United States, where he would become the world's greatest guitarist?" To which Medaglia replied, "Because, maybe, he's already the world's greatest guitarist."

The guitar in popular Brazilian music came to prominence during the late 1950s with the advent of Bossa Nova. Bossa evolved from the samba tradition; the style encapsulated in João Gilberto's ingenious distillation of the almighty roar of the samba drums down to the beat of a single guitar.

Each of the leading Brazilian guitarists of the era articulated bossa in a personal way; João Gilberto's first recordings were the blueprint, intense, concentrated performances of the early masterpieces; Baden Powell combined sensitivity and fire, easily one of the top ten guitarists of all time, a classically trained child prodigy who, with his eclectic interest in the African spiritual and Gregorian plainchant may be seen as the link between bossa nova and Tropicalia. Another marvellous guitarist who united refinement with passion, the tragically ill-fated virtuoso, Rosinha de Valença; Laurindo Almeida, an eloquent player who anticipated bossa, with an equal facility for the guitar music of Villa-Lobos; and Luiz Bonfá; who, along with two of the leading architects of bossa, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, created memorable tunes for Black Orpheus, a film which despite its questionable authenticity, sparked international enthusiasm in Brazilian music.

Brazil On Guitar includes Baden's 1961 album Um violão na madrugada (A Guitar at Dawn), two further complete LPs which he distinguished; ‘A Noite do meu bem’ by the ever-popular Lúcio Alves and ‘Jóia Moderna’ by Alaíde Costa (a favourite of João Gilberto). Here also are Baden's sublime contributions to albums by Carlos Lyra, Elizete Cardoso, and the American flautist Herbie Mann. Rosinha de Valença's live performance of Baden's ‘Consolação’ is miraculous.

To showcase the revolutionary guitar of João Gilberto, there are 14 numbers, including unforgettable songs from the pen of Jobim that quite simply changed the world.