Egberto Gismonti - Sol De Meio Dia (1978)

Some classic ECM Gismonti in his second album for the label, to follow on from last Friday's post of Academia Da Danças.  Where that album was one of Gismonti's most sophisticated in its arrangements and production, Sol De Meio Dia (Midday Sun) is stripped down to the bare essentials, in keeping with his other ECM releases.  The two albums do, however, start with the same song.

The version of Palácio de Pinturas that opens Sol De Meio Dia is a sublime duet between Gismonti and Ralph Towner.  Towner's Oregon bandmate, and another ECM stalwart until his untimely death in 1984, Collin Walcott is up next, laying a bed of insistent tabla for Raga.  There's plenty of Nana Vasconcelos on board for this album too, until Gismonti takes a solo spotlight on piano for the utterly gorgeous Coração.

The second half of the album brings together four songs in the kind of suite typical of 70s Gismonti, and starts with one of his most enduring compositions, Café.  Later covered by Norma Winstone, here the melody line is taken by Jan Garbarek, foreshadowing the hugely successful Magico trio with Charlie Haden.  After no less than 12 minutes of this, and further sparring with Towner, the suite then furrows deeper into Gismonti's overall inspiration for Sol De Meio Dia: the time he'd spent with the peoples of the Xingu river region in the North of Brazil.  All in all, one of Gismonti's very best albums; can't recommend it enough.

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Previously posted at SGTG: 
Academia Da Danças
Circense
Sanfona
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden)