Vinyl - Latin Inspired

One of the best kept secrets of 70's bossa nova!

Extremely well crafted songs, oozing heartfelt lines and subtle arrangements all across the record. There's something so pure, honest and unpretentious about this - and we couldn't be more thrilled about this reissue.

If ever a record called be called a lost masterpiece then this record more than deserves that epithet. First released on an obscure French label in the 1970's it might have sunk further into obscurity and left no trace of it's passing but somehow a handful of copies turned up in various Jazz shops in London where it was snapped up by DJ Paul Murphy who was then playing to the embryonic jazz dance scene, based at the very first Jazz Room club: The Horseshoe in London's Tottenham Court Road, a decaying, seedy, sticky carpeted old West End ballroom that had seen better days. This and a select few records in a similar vein were being played to an appreciative audience who demanded tough raw percussive rhythms overlaid with some furious jazzy soloing and whenever this record hit the turntable it left even the most demanding groover sated. – On Bandcamp

Just when you think that Bossa Nova has covered it all or that it has become stale, someone comes along to shake things up with a delectable and irresistible Bossa Nova album. Saudade Demais fits the bill brilliantly!

Arthur Verocai (Rio de Janeiro, 1945) lived Bossa Nova at its prime. He studied guitar with Léo Soares, Darci Villaverde, Nair Barbosa da Silva and Roberto Menescal. He also took piano lessons with Vilma Graça before embarking on his musical journey. He is a prolific composer that has been writing gorgeous melodies since the 1960s. He took part in several music festivals in Brazil, including the 1968 International Song Festival — with “Saudade Demais,” included here — and again in the 1969 International Song Festival, among others. He has performed, arranged and produced for a number of Brazilian stars before starting his solo career. Among the artists he has worked with, we find Marlene, Elizeth Cardoso, Ivan Lins and Gal Costa just to name a few.

Saudade Demais is an open declaration of love for Rio de Janeiro and Bossa Nova. The lyrics in most of these songs paint a musical scene of that marvelous city. With that inspiration, nothing goes wrong. The guest musicians in the album augment Verocai’s amazing guitar playing and exceptional songwriting skills. Here we find Raul de Souza (trombone), Marcio Montarroyos (trumpet), Toninho Horta (acoustic guitar), Robertinho Silva (drums), Cristovão Bastos (piano), Luiz Alves (bass) and the wonderful voice of Sanny AlvesSanny Alves singing the fascinating lyrics in the album. – Musica Brasileira

Ahead of its time - Jazz Funk | Latin Inspired Chants | Goosebump Inducing

Legally blind from birth, Brazilian keyboard player, composer and bandleader Manfredo Fest learnt to read music in braille and began studying classical music at a young age. By 17 he had fallen in love with jazz (particularly the music of fellow blind pianist George Shearing) before becoming swept up in Rio’s emergent bossa nova movement in the sixties. Moving to the States in 1967 where he would go on to work with fellow countryman Sergio Mendes, Fest recorded and self-released Brazilian Dorian Dream in 1976, enlisting Thomas Kini (bass), Alejo Poveda (drums, percussion) and Roberta Davis (vocals).

Like a turbo-powered, intergalactic elevator ride, Brazilian Dorian Dream builds on the principle of the modal diatonic scales of the Dorian mode, with influences of Brazilian rhythms, North American jazz and funk, and music of the European baroque and romantic era. The coming together of these intergenerational and intercontinental styles coupled with Fest’s visionary use of the Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Arp and Moog synthesizers (plus a whole load of effects units), makes for an album light years ahead of its time. - Bandcamp

Ancestral Afro-Venezuelan rhythms meet futuristic Latin jazz, raw funk and Afrobeat on Raúl Monsalve y Los Forajidos’ exhilarating new ‘Bichos’ album for Olindo Records. Venezuelan bassist Raúl Monsalve leads an all-star ensemble of musical trailblazers including “the voice of Venezuela” Betsayda Machado, singer Luzmira Zerpa (Family Atlantica) and drummer Dave De Rose (Agile Experiments, Moloko, Mark Ronson).

Raúl Monsalve has dedicated much of his life to understanding and learning traditional Afro-Venezuelan music, and studying under some of its greatest proponents among the percussionists of his home country, whilst at the same time taking as much interest in the sounds emanating from the fearless edges of jazz, rock, African and early electronic music.

With producer/engineer/drummer Malcolm Catto (Heliocentrics, Quantic, Yussef Kamaal) behind the recording and mixing desk, Raul brought together a like-minded cast of friends from Venezuela, Paris and London, to help him create a fresh sound, capturing the essence of both the African and indigenous roots of Venezuelan music, and the forward-looking sounds of afrobeat, gritty Latin jazz and experimental electronic music. ‘Bichos’, Spanish for ‘vermin’, ‘bugs’, ‘beasts’ but also used in Venezuela to refer to someone as a “nasty piece of work”, draws all these strands together. The album uses a variety of animals, such as the mosquito, butterfly, pig, snake, rooster and flea, to represent a wide range of human qualities, like greed, hate, love & compassion, and their impact on Venezuelan and worldwide corruption & division, the strengths of friendship, family, collaboration, rebellion and survival.

“Bichos” is not only a superb introduction to Raúl Monsalve, but also to a swathe of incredible musicians you might still be unfamiliar with. It’s also a brilliant window into the rich musical seam of Venezuelan music, and an excellent look at how it might interconnect with wider musical parallels. - Olindo

Another Brazilian Funk landmark made by two of the most exceptional instrumentalists of the Soul funk scene of the 70s. José da Silva better know under the pseudonym of Zeca do Trombone is a trombone player who has worked with a multitude of Brazilian artists including Tim Maia and Carlos Dafé Elizeth Cardoso, Beth Carvalho, Milton Nascimento. Roberto Sax or Zé Roberto Simonal is none other than Wilson Simonal’s brother.

The original press of this LP is one of the rarest of Brazilian music. Mad About Record is proud to reissue it for the first time worldwide. – Bandcamp