Customer Reviews

Aquarela Do Brasil

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On a scale of 1 to 5, "Aquarela Do Brasil" is a SIX!! One of the great MPB performances of all time, with Toots Thielemans adding soaring beautiful harmonica/guitar solos between some truly amazing vocals by Elis Regina. Plus Toots gives three solid solo performances, including an Elis tribute.

Recorded in 1969, during a "howling snowstorm" in Stockholm Sweden of all places, the Brazilian Super-Diva, Elis Regina, and the acclaimed jazz master, Toots Thielemans, conjured up a steaming, mid-summer Brazilian beach in the studio. Elis is on fire throughout and clearly having alot of fun! Her musical quintet, Elis Cinco, is brilliant and audibly enthusiastic. Singing with a wide range of emotions and tossing off gymnastic phrases with ease, Elis is incredible! She wields her voice like a knief, cutting quickly and deeply into each song. Toots is equally brilliant and the entire ensemble plays like old musical friends. I speak no Portuguese but this music is as clear as a crystal.

Normally I pick out a "Piece D'Resistance" in every CD, but this CD is so uniformly brilliant that there are too many outstanding performances by both artists to pick one. The sensuous, sultry "Barquinho" (Little Boat) is cast as an overpowering ballad performance that will slow your breathing. "Voce", the tongue twisting "Corrida de Jangada", and the sizzling "Wave" (with Elis' patented "sozinho" Afro-Brazilian tagline at the end) are new again. She totally personalizes "Aquarela Do Brasil" using the 'bridge' only and then adds the batucada "Nega do Cabelo Duro" to it, infusing it with humor and the sound of "crickets": very unique performance. And the octave-jumping tour de force of "Cantu de Ossanha" is spine-tingling great singing like no one else can do it.

I bought this CD primarily out of curiosity about the combination of Toots & Elis. I had recently bought the excellent Chez Toots CD and noticed this CD in his discography. I popped it in the CD player and wandered away. The next morning the CD player woke me up with "Wave" and I was captivated and totally amazed for the next hour. As a jazz, classical, and pop music fan, I KNOW singers and this singer was someone very, very special. She understood nuance, emotion, improvisation, the blues (ok, "saudade", if you must), how to deliver a knockout punch and leave us wanting more. It's no wonder they called her 'Furacão' (The Hurricane). Now I'm collecting more Elis recordings and have just purchased the self-titled first CD cut by her multiple Grammy-winning daughter, "Maria Rita". With this CD, Elis (over twenty years after her tragic accidental death) has stolen my musical heart. She ranks in the company of the greatest singers ever: Ella, Sarah, Maria Callas, Judy, and LadyDay. I think she realized she was really a jazz singer at heart interpreting MBP. Believe me, this CD should be required listening for ALL music fans who love GREAT MUSIC. Definitely, a SIX !

Snowstorm? What snowstorm? LOL
(Audio CD. For another stunning performance, listen to Montreux Jazz Festival

I spend quite a bit of time commuting, so I carry a heavy cache of CDs with me to pass the drivetime. I'll probably turn this CD into pulp, I play it so much. There's a good mix of tempos among the tracks. I especially enjoy "Aquarela Do Brasil," "Visao," and "Honeysuckle Rose." The talents of Toots and Elis make for a wonderful blend of sound. If you want a good CD for drivetime (as well as elsewhere), this CD is definitely it!

What a voice! I would buy this cd for wave alone,much less the rest of this brilliant album.Elis blessed the world with that magnificent voice, and she breaks my heart with it at the same time.Thank you Elis,for giving us all you had.

A most enjoyable Euro-Brazilian collaboration on which everyone concerned seems to be having a great time. The listener, too. Not on the sublime level of 'Elis & Tom' but lots of fun. I liked Toots's contribution - harmonica, whistling and all, and even his riotous version of 'Honeysuckle Rose'! Elis is all that other reviewers have said, tearing into 'Wave' and Edu Lobo's joyous football song with great abandon. Her duetting with Toots's whistling on Roberto Menescal's 'Voce' is irresistible.

A classic case where one should never judge the content by its cover. Inside I found one of the most stunning vocal performances ever - purely in terms of Elis's vocals, this album may even surpass 'Tom and Elis'. Her rendition of 'Aquarela do Brasil,' transitioning to 'Nega do Cabelo Duro,' perhaps will remain one of my favorites for years to come. Enough said, head straight for the checkout.

One of the outstanding Elis Regina's characteristics as a singer was not only her quality as a vocal master. She also knew very well how to choose her musicians and arrangers.

And she also had all great Brazilian musicians at her keep. They used to say it was very hard to work under her top parameters but the result was prestige. Many American songbirds became famous on this aspect - this reminds me of Carmen McRae and Betty Carter - and like them, Elis Regina always brought luck to all musicians and composers she recorded with.

This album counted on her trio in 1969, leaded by pianist and composer Antonio Adolfo. This same trio made her European tour in 1969 and recorded this album with Toots Thielemens in Sweden.

Half the program consists of instrumentals with the trio plus Toots. Very Great!

Two legends : two unforgettable names for the musical story of Brazil .
Toots Thielemans is an extarordinary musician . His wide scope has allowd him to face one of the widest spectre of the music .
In this famous recording dated from 1969 Elis Regina (the divine , unforgettable and supreme brazilian song goddess and one of most inspired female singers ever) joined theor gifts to giva the world a tresure of thousand carats .
Canto de Ossanha, Aquarela de Brazil , O barquinho and Wave are among the best tracks of this spectacular and glorious CD . The only complaint -if I may- is the shortness of this album . Thought and recorded according the LP laws: Twelve tracks and that's all . I have the hidden hope someone finds records not available before or recording sessions never released before to get the chance to enjoy the craft of this fantastic combination .
Acquire this CD and get close to the world of this giant couple .

I was surprised this album has not been given more attention, as it surpasses even "Elis and Tom." On the whole, it's breezier and more up-tempo than that album, and contains more indispensable classics: "Wave", "Canto de Ossanha","Barquinho", "Corrido de Jangada", and "Aquarela do Brasil." Elis Regina's singing is at its sexiest and most exciting, while the band is jazzy and intimate (no orchestra, for example), though Toots Thielemans might have done better to stick to harmonica accompaniment (there are four pleasant enough, but unnecessary instrumentals on the album, two of which he whistles).

This is a wonderfully inspiring collection that just puts you in the mood for a romantic sultry summer evening. I can't stop listening to it. It's a terrifc combination of Toots Thieleman's jazzy harmonica complementing Elis Regina's incredible voice. In Elis's voice you can here every subtle, shifting nuance, every breath and whisper. It's absolutely awesome!

As an avid jazz-samba fan from the era of those Getz/Gilberto/Jobim (etc.) collaborations, I am stunned to imagine -and embarrassed to admit that I did not know of Elis Regina before recently stumbling by accident into these extraordinary reviews on the Amazon site. The obvious question was, "Could anything be as good as these people say?!!" The answer is YES! For starters, the magic of this beautiful CD thoroughly compares to that experienced when I first heared the other albums referenced above, and then some! Not at all because these selections display great musical innovation or complexity within this genre; -they don't, and that is what makes these performances so delightful from start to finish. That is, this is music which "sings", and goes straight to the heart of the listener. The whole group sound like they are enjoying themselves enormously during the sessions, and I still find myself unable to sit still when this album is on! Rather, the compulsion to tap one's toes, or to rise and start dancing (with or without partner available) is simply irrepressible! Small wonder, therefore, that the polite and cool-tempered Swedes who observed these recording sessions were spellbound, or so it seems, by the spectacle of these Brazilians having so much fun while "working"! For Elis Regina, she is everything the other reviewers say, and she grows on me increasingly with each new listening; her loss at such a young age is forever saddening and confounding to me. Very thankfully, however, the recording engineers have captured and preserved the moment for us magnificently with this album. I am also very pleased, as well, to be introduced to the music of Toots Thielemans, who blends into this group with absolute perfection.