Customer Reviews

I Love Brazil

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

 

 

From one of the most soulful artists of any time comes songs of such depth and range of emotion that they take you to places in your heart, perhaps long ago savored and set aside. "I Live to Love You," with achingly haunting lyrics delivered from the depths of human connection can return you to the love you've perhaps taken for granted; or bind you closer to the ones you cherish.

This is the first of Sarah Vaughan's recordings in Brazil with Brazilian material and Brazilian instrumentalists.

Helio Delmiro on guitar, Sergio Barroso and Novelli on bass, Chico Batera and Wilson das Neves on drums, Jose Roberto Bertrami (from Azymuth) and Edson Frederico on piano make up the dream team among other guest soloists. Guitarrist Helio Delmiro specially shines on virtually all tracks!

Milton Nascimento and Dorival Caymmi sings along with Ms. Vaughan each one in their own compositions. A beautiful toast to those great composers but with neglectable results, unfortunately. Antonio Carlos Jobim plays the piano on his "Someone To Light Up My Life".

Repertoire showcases Bossa Nova and post-Bossa Nova standards, all sung in their English versions. A mix of obvious and not-obvious Bossa Nova for Americans, featuring the Bossa standard "The Day It Rained (A Chuva)" as composed by Durval Ferreira.

A fine album of Brazillian music by the Divine One. There may be some forgettable numbers, but for the most part, they are winners. Triste and the Face I Love are delightful tropical colors, but the killer is Empty Faces, written by Milton Nascimento. But you have to feel sorry for him in having to sing next to Sarah. Sort of like sending someone to guard Michael Jordan. After hearing that tune, you wished she would have recorded with Jimi Hendrix, she certainly had the power to.

"The Divine One" in sublime mature voice in the seventies could out sing anyone, extraordinary collection features the magnificent legendary Diva in peak voice throughout a glorious collection of Brazilian gems, serving as prime example of her unmatched genius! "I Love Brazil" is an exotic wildly mesmerizing masterpiece that released in better times than the bleek 70's disco period, would have made a clean sweep of the "Grammy Awards", clearly listening to this musicial treasure that would have been justice! Fresh from wildly successful Summer of 1977 appearance with Carmen McRae at The Hollywood Bowl, each tremendous singer in peak form two nights in a diverse program of amazing performances, these great ladies had SRO audience enthralled & cheering loudly with prolonged standing ovations too numerous to count. Sassy One, fresh from this stunning event this Grand Diva was off to Brazil, listening to that lush full rich voice in "Empty Faces", peerless performance is a stunning tour-de-force, imagine this fantastic powerful voice that could sing anything, wrapping sensuous & glorious tones around a definitive "The Long And Winding Road" in open air with the effect memorable all these years later...nobody could get inside a song like Sarah does in the hauntingly gorgeous "Someone To Light Up My Life" & turn it inside-out in such a richly dramatic and soulful way, leaving the listener breathless. Stunning collection of richly illuminating and sublime performances is incredibly deep, one to savor and enjoy over and over in a collection featuring many of the greatest & most beautifully shaded vocals ever recorded...Bravo Sarah, RIP Divine One, you are truly missed & this glorious masterpiece is a keeper!

I Love Brazil features Sara's rich voice teamed with 1960's up beat style Bossa Nova rhytems and classic reflective ballads that command your attention. A great mix of Brazillian style cocktail party music and quiet introspective ballads. This one's a winner for anyone who appreciates the vocal stylings of the great Sara Vaughan.

With I Love Brazil, Sarah Vaughan began a more serious exploration of Brazilian music that had begun a decade earlier during the samba era. This exploration ultimately included two other albums, Copacabana and Brazilian Romance, both of which are excellent. Of her mid-career albums, few match I Love Brazil for vocal purity, great interaction with the supporting instrumentalists, or exploration of new music. This is a brilliant performance by a brilliant artist.

I was fortunate to purchase all of Sarah Vaughan's Brazilian themed albums. In my opinion, this one is her best. Her outstanding voice combined with lush instrumentation ( yes, I LOVE the strings!) and beautiful brazilian songs is not to be missed. Check out guitarist Helio Delmiro on "A Little Tear." Nothin' but soul!

As usual, the incomparable Sarah Vaughn again shows why she was known as "The Voice". As a matter of personal taste, I do not feel this CD is of the same standard as "Brazilian Romance", but perhaps that is because I wasn't as fond of several of the arrangements in "I Love Brazil". However, every single cut in the other CD was incredible. I loved the song, "I Live to Love You" - there were others toward the end of the CD that were nice as well, but most of them just didn't "grab me".

As happened so many times in her career, Sarah Vaughan is caught in a series of terrible arrangements in this album (cue the mushy strings). And, as happened so many times, she triumphs over many of them. This album is uneven, at best, and just wretched at worst. What on earth is "Das Roses" doing on this album, for instance? Then again, she breathes amazing life into Chuva, Empty Faces, and Like a Lover. I'm sorry that Jobim allowed "Se Todos Fossem..." (If Everyone Could Be Like You) to transmogrify into "Someone to Light Up My Life." Although Sarah does a nice enough job on the English torch-song version on this album (accompanied by Jobim), to hear the best version of this song, as a love song (not a torch song), check out Gal Costa's live performance on "Jobim and Friends," which is a great concert from beginning to end.