Sunday, December 07, 2003



What could ever be better in the morning than a Jobim album???
This one in particular, which Fred gave me back yesterday even though i had forgotten that he had it. Or that i had it, to that matter.
Jobim's playing will lull you out of a hangover anytime. The sweetness involved in his restraint is nothing but an expression of his character. The piano, always muted. The keyboards, discreet the most possible. His singing often just hearable at the very end of the mix, recorded off the piano microphone as he sang along to his own tunes, usually without even noticing.
His satie-esque minimal solos, every moment you can feel that he's about to break into an amazing, bill evans-like improvisation, but not once in his known recordings does he go ahead and do this, even though we all know he very well could.

And by the way, on this album you can also hear Ron Carter play at his best ever. (on track 4, the nine minute long rendition of Ary Barroso's classic Brazil)