A quintet of wonderful records from the legendary Astrud
Gilberto! First up is the Astrud Gilberto Album – pne of Astrud Gilberto's
greatest albums of the 60s – a classic session produced for Verve by Creed
Taylor, and featuring sweet gentle arrangements from Marty Paich, co-arranged
with Antonio Carlos Jobim, who also plays guitar on the session next to the
piano of Joao Donato! That's a mouthful of heavy-hitters, we know – but the
result is a totally great session that has Astrud's light and gentle vocals
drifting over some of the most magical bossa backings you'll ever hear. The
whole thing's great, stuffed with bossa classics done in English – and titles
include "Once I Loved", "Aqua De Beber", "O
Morro", "Dindi", "Dreamer", and
"Photograph". Look To The Rainbow is one of the moodiest Verve albums
from Astrud Gilberto – a set that has some surprising arrangements by Gil Evans
– working here on one of his few 60s dates with a singer! Astrud's blue-tinged
vocals work perfectly with Evans' backdrops – and Al Cohn also takes over the
helm on two of the album's tracks, but still does a very good job of keeping
the groove.
There's a nice mix of sadness and lightness in the set – and titles
include a wonderful version of "Berimbau" that actually features
berimbau playing by Dom Um Romao, a great take on "El Preciso Aprender A
Ser So" with English lyrics, and the titles "Bim Bom",
"Lugar Bonito", "Frevo", and "Once Upon A
Summertime". For Certain Smile Certain Sadness, Verve Records got the
great idea of teaming up its (then) biggest Brazilian imports – vocalist Astrud
Gilberto and organist Walter Wanderley – both of whom were selling plenty at
the time! Astrud's lovely vocals are matched beautifully with the lean,
rhythmic bossa grooves of Wanderley's trio – and the result is a record that's
near-perfect in execution.
Most of the tracks are quite short, as is the record
itself – but it's a perfectly concentrated dose of the Verve bossa sound at its
best, with tracks that include "Portuguese Washerwoman", "Tu Meu
Delirio", "A Certain Smile", "Call Me", "Here's
That Rainy Day", "A Certain Sadness", "It's A Lovely Day
Today", and a vocal version of Wanderley's big hit "Summer
Samba", redone here as "So Nice"! Windy is one of the hardest to
find Astrud Gilberto records on Verve – and one of the best! Deodato, Don
Sebesky, and Pat Williams did the arrangements – and the sound here is a bit
different than some of the straighter Gilberto sets of the time – still very
bossa-inspired, but also in a style that mixes in some great Sunshine Pop and
60s easy influences too – particularly on the tracks arranged by Williams!
Tracks are all quite short, but get a heck of a lot of magic into a tiny space
– and the album features some really wonderful songs that break Gilberto's
pattern a bit – including versions of the Marcos Valle tracks "Crickets
Sing For Anamaria" and "Chup Chup, I Got Away" – plus takes on
"Windy", "Sing Me A Rainbow", "Never My Love",
and "Where Are They Now?" I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do is one
of the darkest albums ever recorded by Astrud Gilberto – her 60s last session
for Verve Records, and a batch of beautifully moody tunes throughout!
Arrangements are by Albert Gorgoni, who'd handled Gilberto's previous September
69 album – but the style here is a bit mellower, a bit sadder – touched with
more adult themes of love, life, and loss – and very much in keeping with
Astrud's tear-stained image on the cover!
There's a sound here that almost
mixes Gilberto's earlier bossa with the more baroque modes of Scott Walker at
the end of the 60s – and as with Scott Walker's classic solo sets, the album
shows a side of Astrud's talents that we never would have expected a few years
earlier! Titles include "Wailing Of The Willow", "Where's The
Love", "Wee Small Hours", "If", "Without
Him", "Trains & Boats & Planes", "The Sea Is My
Soil", and "Didn't We?". ~
Dusty Groove
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