Astrud Gilberto's third solo album showed her vocal range and interpretive skill beginnig to mature, and with this came a gorgeous half hour of arrangements by Gil Evans (with the exception of the third last and second last songs, arranged by Al Cohn) and production by Creed Taylor. Perhaps trying to position Astrud as both international pop star and authentic bossanova voice, just over half the album's tracks are sung in English, and Look To The Rainbow presents a cracking selection of songs by the likes of Jobim, João Gilberto, Vinicius De Moraes and Baden Powell.
Mixed in with these are I Will Wait For You from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Maria Quiet from the considerably less well known (and never fully performed as written) Brazilian musical, Pobre Menina Rica (Poor Rich Girl). Without that context, the latter song, sung in English, can seem a little...odd, but never mind - as a whole, this album is pure bossanova-jazz-pop perfection.
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pw: sgtg
Previously posted at SGTG:
I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do
Gilberto With Turrentine
A friend and I used to refer to this as the "Prell" album. Because that cover pic totally looks like it should be on a shampoo bottle.
ReplyDeleteHa, it totally does!
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