Customer Reviews

Live at Umbria Jazz

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

 

 

A completely essential purchase for fans of Joao Gilberto. Recorded in 1996, this differs from some of his more readily available live material. There's more swing in the vocal with an occasional touch of vibrato, more staccato in the guitar..what comes across most strongly is that Joao sounds like he's just loving the occasion. I find the comments of an earlier reviewer here baffling, the recording of O Pato here is in every way perfect, pretty much defines virtuose in my view. As also mentioned previously the quailty of the recording is excellent. Highly recommended.

Up till now I thought the Tokyo album was Joćos best in an already stellar discography. To settle the above dispute, this is at least just as good. The point is this: since 20 years Gilberto has only record solo albums with basically the same repertoire, albeit one live recordings. But he is getting better and better, year after year. And the sound quality on some of those is awful (Live In Montreux, Eu sei que eu vou te amar). Here, as in Tokyo, the sound is perfect, stella, pure, warm!

My advice: buy both!

This is not an overstatement. Much better in every way than 90% of the stuff he's released in the last 40 years. Recording quality is superb. The performances are spot-on. The guy is just swinging like crazy. Much better than "Montreaux", "Live in Tokyo" and miles beyond the "Eu sei que eu vou te amar" disaster. But it also even makes some studio recordings obsolete. The definitive version of "Malaga".

"La vem a bahiana" is a great old Dorival Caymmi tune previously unrecorded by Joćo. The guy just keeps getting better, his voice richer, the guitar more assured, and he was in peak form this evening. You may be asking yourself, "Do I really need another version of Joćo doing "Corcovado"? Trust me, get this and you won't be disappointed.

I can't agree with the other reviewer. I think both the Tokyo and the Montreux Jazz albums are better than this one. In fact, I think a few of the performances on this album are not all that good. I think he messes up a few of the songs, compared to other of his recorded versions (I can't bear to listen to "De Conversa em Conversa" and "O Pato" on this one). He sounds like he's out of breath; he seems to sustain notes with his voice much less than normal. In a couple of places he just plucks the guitar too hard and the strings clang very horribly.

The Tokyo album just sounds much more effortless (though he did mess up "Bolinha de Papel" there). Not to mention that it's cheaper and ships quicker.