7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliance from Brazil, September 8, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Infancia (Audio CD)
I was first introduced to Egberto Gismonti through a live performance of the trio featured in this recording. I almost did not attend, but it changed my musical outlook forever. His musical background is extraordinary. I look forward to each and every release of his, mostly on ECM Records. This is Brazilian meets jazz meets fusion meets classical. Enjoy.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fine album from Gismonti Group, but not among the best..., December 12, 2004
This review is from: Infancia (Audio CD)
Gismonti has been amazingly prolific in making many great albums from early 70's up to mid 90's.
Typically, his music is somewhat "rough" but very powerfull, emotive, rich, risky and bold during all the 70's. It is mostly acoustic work with many Gismonti's vocals too. It is a little difficult to access because of the complexity; but once you are in, it will stay with you forever. Most of this earlier work is under EMI or lately reissued under Gimsonti's CARMO labels.
The 80's are a transition period from pure acoustic to a mix between acoustic and electric instruments; Gismonti's vocals tend to disapear. Typically, the music becomes less provocative and more polite than earlier Gismonti's work. It is somewhat more civilized and more easy to access. Yet, the music remains highly sophisticated and creative; but with little less (good or bad?) surprise. Lots of these albums are under ECM label.
The 90's are a period where Gismonti's Group was founded. The music move towards more classical style: very polite, distinctive, fluid and elegant. Yet, there is still this amazing creativity, complexity and freshness of all Gismonti's works.
A few movie music albums are part of this period too (Kuarup, Amazonia). They tend to have more electronic effects but they stay into the elegant distinctive spirit of Gismonti's group latest compositions. Most of these albums are under ECM or CARMO labels.
About INFANCIA album, it is far from the best of all Gismonti. It is fine though, but in my view, excessively polite, thus with not as much personnality and spirit of many other albums. It can be a good introdcution to Gismonti though, as it will not hurt at all the new listener. Hopefully, this (still very nice) album will invite him to explore further deep Gismonti's art and realise how much more than this his talent is...
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