Tamba Trio, later expanded to Tamba 4, centred around pianist Luíz Eça. Far more than just a jazz pianist or bossanova/ Afro-samba pianist, his stunning style also evoked Gershwin, Debussy and Ravel, and was in fullest flow on the epics that bookend this album. O Morro (The Hill) is a Jobim tune, and leaves the listener breathless from Eça chasing the melody around so effortlessly, even dipping into dissonant modernism but never losing direction across seven exhilarating minutes.
Flautist Bebeto Castilho is the other star here, providing the lead melodic instrument on most of these tracks; he also takes the album's only lead vocal on the languid ballad Moça Flor (Flower Girl). Other than that, the only vocal tracks on the album are breathy incantations evoking Iemanjá (goddess of the sea) and Ossanha (of storms), performed by the whole group. Eça adds a dash of organ to the spiritual mystique of Iemanjá, which is probably my favourite track other than the knockout opener.
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