Egberto Gismonti with Naná Vasconcelos - Dança Das Cabeças (1977)

Egberto Gismonti's debut appearance on ECM was originally planned as a completely solo album, the travel costs imposed by the Brazilian government precluding a full band.  Shortly after arriving in Norway though, Gismonti had a chance encounter with Naná Vasconcelos, and their instant kinship is what elevates this album from just incredible music to something even more special.

The concept that the two musicians agreed on, according to Gismonti, was "two boys wandering through a dense, humid forest, full of insects and animals, keeping a 180-feet distance from each other".  This is evoked straight away in the atmospheric introduction (named Quarto Mundo, possibly even before the late Jon Hassell used the term "Fourth World"), with flutes and voices evoking Amazonian wildlife.  The album's first suite then focuses on Gismonti's stunning guitar playing and Vasconcelos' percussive versatility.  Six songs are ran together for the LP's first side, including two from Academia Da Danças (link below).

The first half of the side two suite is given over entirely to Gismonti's piano, in a gorgeous piece called Tango that casts him as a Brazilian Keith Jarrett.  A low rumbling gong reintroduces Vasconcelos for a more atmospheric interlude including voices and handclaps, then Gismonti briefly returns to guitar.  To finish, a rush of shaken bells from Vasconcelos leads in to the choppy piano coda.  Both musicians would go on to international renown from here, on ECM and elsewhere, and on Dança Das Cabeças they produced a lasting landmark in their careers from a fortunate chance meeting.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG: 
Academia Da Danças
Sol De Meio Dia 
Circense
Sanfona

Duas Vozes (with Naná Vasconcelos)
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden) 

Egberto Gismonti & Nana Vasconcelos - Duas Vozes (1984)

ECM's two Brazilian masters came together for their second duo recording in June 1984, and started the album in a way that was certainly memorable.  It's probably one of the most avant-garde renderings of Ary Barroso's Aquarela Do Brasil ever attempted - see here for a more recognisable version.  This one only reveals itself about halfway through, and features a small amount of the lyrics at the end.

The rest of the material is mostly Gismonti's, and showcases his typically nimble multi-string guitar technique in both lightning fast runs and percussive attacks.  There's also a traditional tune, the atmospheric Tomarapeba, and the closing track is by Vasconcelos.  His percussive range is as striking as ever, adding up to an inspired collaboration.

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Egberto Gismonti at SGTG: 
Academia Da Danças
Sol De Meio Dia 
Circense
Sanfona
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden) 

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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pw: sgtg

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

Egberto Gismonti - Academia Da Danças (1974)

Often regarded as his earliest masterpiece, Academia Da Danças was the album that saw Egberto Gismonti sign with EMI Brazil.  With their recording & production facilities to hand, Gismonti would record some of his most ambitious and sophisticated albums for the label.  Early on in this blog I posted the technicolour adventures of Circense (link below) from 1980, and Academia from six years prior shows Gismonti well on his way to that kind of sound, with two side-long suites.

The first of these suites is the fully-segued Corações Futuristas (a title Gismonti would reuse for his next album), made up of five songs.  Strings and synths abound, and in fact introduce the album, as wordless vocals accompany the entry of Gismonti's rolling guitar arpeggios.  There's almost a prog feel in the playing and arrangements, which reminded me of early Steve Hackett; wonder if he heard this album?  Given his relationship with Brazilian artist Kim Poor, it's entirely possible.  Some of the song titles here, for instance Palace of Paintings and The Enchanted Door (in their English translations) are also kind of Hackett-like.

After all the energetic twists and turns of the first suite, the album's not-entirely-segued second half (titled Academia Da Danças) starts with two gorgeous haunting ballads, with Egberto on vocals and piano.  The arrangements are stripped right back - a bit of organ here, a lovely flute feature there.  The album picks up pace again after that, for four short instrumentals that dance around in great arrangements, until the memorably bizarre finale of crazed electric piano & flute collapses in a hallucinatory swirl of electronics.  A highly recommended album from a singular artist.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Circense
Sanfona (by which time Gismonti was using 'Academia Da Danças' as a band name)
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden)

Charlie Haden & Egberto Gismonti - In Montreal (rec. 1989, rel. 2001)

An ECM archival release where no album cover image was necessary - just the names of the two masters of their art who were involved, and an indication of the source recording: this was taped at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, on 6th July 1989, and was released 12 years later.  It's a fantastic 80 minute set of gorgeous, intimate music that showcases both bassist and guitarist/pianist for their melodic and harmonic talents.

Gismonti is heard on piano for five of these pieces, winding through some of his most beautiful tunes - I'm a sucker for a good Palhaço in any form, and the one here doesn't disappoint - and treats us to his guitar virtuosity on the other four.  Underpinning all of this is Haden's legendary bass playing, not so much framing each piece as building a rock-solid foundation beneath it, like a construction crew drilling deep into the earth.  The material is all Gismonti's apart from two Haden compositions, First Song and Silence, where the writer steps ably into the limelight as the lead instrument while Gismonti plays backup on guitar and piano respectively.  This whole album is perfect weekend contemplation par excellence.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Circense
Sanfona
Dança Dos Escravos

Egberto Gismonti ‎- Dança Dos Escravos (1989)

If the solo half of Egberto Gismonti's Sanfona was a stunning closeup on his guitar virtuosity, his last album of the 80s was another masterpiece in the same zone.  The title means 'Dance of the slaves', and the sleevenotes consist of "Fragments of the history of the colonizers collected by Geraldo Carniero" (a poet, playwright and composer from Belo Horizonte).  Many of these historical quotations make for brutal reading, and end with an observation from the time of the American Revolution about the transitory nature of any regime.

All of this is balanced out by the inclusion of a drawing of Gismonti by his then seven year old son Alexandre, captioned "Meu querido papai tocando" (my dear dad playing).  It's as if to underline that any nation's unfiltered history may be uncomfortable, but there's still beauty to be seen - in this case, family.  This translates into the music, as Gismonti once again brings together all of his study into the history of Brazilian music into a gorgeous collection of six original compositions (and one by Heitor Villa-Lobos).

At times sombre, like the closing Memoria E Fado or the opening of Villa-Lobos' Trenzinho Do Caipira, at times upbeat and joyful dances (Lundu, Alegrinho), Dança Dos Escravos comes in every shade of expression.  Gismonti actually subtitles each track with a colour, respectively red, blue, green, yellow, black, white and brown; the reasons for the choices aren't made clear, so I suppose it's up to the listener to make any connections if they wish.  His playing, on 6, 10, 12 and 14 string guitars, and his breathtaking technique and melodic/harmonic talents really do all the talking, most strikingly on the 15-minute suite that comprises the title track.

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Egborto Gismonti & Academia De Danças - Sanfona (1981)

Fancy a concept album about a travelogue through the festivals and folk dances of Brazil?   How about two, one with a full band, and one completely solo, both exquisitely performed and achingly melodic in their bittersweet evocations of life and celebration?  Stop right here then - Sanfona, named for a Brazilian relative of the accordion and also intended to metaphorically symbolise the sheer breadth of Brazilian popular culture down the ages, sits high up in Egberto Gismonti's back catalogue as a stunning example of a master craftsman at the peak of his evocative powers.

The first disc of Sanfona, featuring Gismonti supported by a three-piece version of his Academia De Danças band, takes us through the birth and refinement of the samba, forró and seresta musical and rhythmic forms, whilst giving the musicians plenty of space to stretch out and make Gismonti's wonderful compositions sparkle with life.

The second disc is Gismonti entirely alone and recorded live, inevitably spotlighting his stunning guitar technique, especially on the 16-minute De Repente.  After this comes Vale de Eco, an atmospheric performance on Indian organ, before the last of the album's original four sides turns inward for some truly gorgeous music.  12 de Fevereiro was written to commemorate the birth of Gismonti's first daughter, and Carta de Amor a few weeks later - both feature achingly beautiful, keening vocals and close the album on a perfectly intimate high note.

Disc 1
Disc 2


Previously posted at SGTG: Circense

Quaternaglia ‎- Forrobodó (2000)

Something a bit more summery today - and the first Brazilian post for this year; won't be the last.  The Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet are from São Paulo and have been active since 1992.  This was their third album - a bit easier than the others (which I'm on the lookout for) to get hold of internationally thanks to Egberto Gismonti's Carmo label and its distribution deal with ECM.

Gismonti's presence looms large in the songwriting credits too - tracks 5 thru 9 are all his compositions, including a lengthy arrangement of his classic piece Forró, and a welcome dizzying run through Karatê.  The tempos throughout this great album are mostly fleet of foot, letting the sheer knotty virtuosity of the four guitarists shine as brightly as they deserve, with everything exquisitely arranged and beautifully melodic.  Highly recommended.

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Egberto Gismonti - Circense (1980)

Last stopoff in Brazil for the moment - although there's a handful of others that I'll scatter into the mix in the weeks/months to come.  This one will appeal to the ECM-ers among you; Egberto Gismonti has appeared on the label on and off since the mid 70s, and most famously worked with Jan Garbarek and Charlie Haden, with a couple of that trio's most famous Gismonti compositions repeated here.  On Circense though, the cross-continental summits of ECM are replaced by an all-Brazillian crack team of great musicians, and a lusher production.

A vague concept album of sorts, in as much as it was intended to a evoke a circus atmosphere that was both universal and also unmistakably Brazillian, Circense kicks off with the dizzying rhythms of Karaté.  Tá Boa, Santa and Equilibrista are equally uptempo, with Gismonti's guitar virtuosity to the fore.  He's also on fine form on Cego Aderaldo, duetting with Indian violinist Lakshminarayana Shankar, a singular ECM artist in the 80s but one who didn't cross paths with Gismonti in that context.  The best tracks here as far as I'm concerned though are the gorgeous ballads Mágico, with its haunting wall of wordless voices and orchestration, and the timeless Palhaço.  The latter is arguably the highlight of the whole album, with saxophonist Mauro Senise doubling the gorgeous melody in place of Garbarek.

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