Morelenbaum (2)/Sakamoto: Casa (Tribute to Jobim)

Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00006FIBO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,928 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #34 in Music > World Music > Latin Music > Samba
  • #74 in Music > World Music > Latin Music > Brazilian > Bossa Nova

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Casa" is the Portuguese word for "house." It's also the title of this melodic and moving tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim by the Oscar® and Grammy award-winning pianist-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, and his vocalist wife, Paula. The Morelenbaums, who cofounded Quarteto Jobim-Morelenbaum, both worked with the maestro, and almost all of the tracks here were recorded in Jobim's Rio home. The CD contains fluid and florid renditions of bossa nova-era classics from the Jobim canon, from "Amor em Paz"--with Jobim's son Paulo on guitar--and "Bonita" to "Vivo Sonhando." It also unveils rare songs like "Chanson pour Michelle," a short and sweet composition written for a soap opera, and a never-before-heard work, "Tema para Ana," an intimate piano/cello duet. Sakamoto's spare and splendid pianisms ring from Jobim's piano. Morelenbaum's singing cello tones complement his wife's angelic Portuguese and English vocals. Together this talented trio--with occasional accompaniment by percussionist Marcos Suzano, guitarist Luiz Brasil, vocalist Ed Motta, and bassist Zeca Assumpçao--beautifully exposes the French influences of Satie, Ravel, and Chopin in Jobim's music. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul Food, November 7, 2002

By 

Mark Hoover (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morelenbaum (2)/Sakamoto: Casa (Tribute to Jobim) (Audio CD)

If you're here on this page today, then there's a day in your past when you were first aware that the beautiful and seductive song you suddenly could not get out of your head was written by someone named Jobim. For me, it happened while driving in the small hours of a long-ago November night, listening to a program on a faraway radio station called "Night Flight."

This album was recorded in Jobim's own house, and Jobim's piano responds to the hands of the masterly Ryuichi Sakamoto with as much rich emotion and dulcet tone as it once yielded to its former master. Like so much of Jobim's music, the arrangements here are spare and winsome, shot through with silky beauty and underpinned by emotional tones that recall the first time you gasped upon finally realizing what it means to be in love.

Perhaps you sometimes long again for the shiver that inevitably followed those first, early Jobim record purchases. Finally, here is an album that delivers the goods. I cannot imagine a more perfect voice than Paula Morelenbaum's to sing these songs...she eclipses even Astrud Gilberto. The living-room ensemble of acoustic instruments captures what the songs must have sounded like in Jobim's imagination as he composed them. The recording itself is exquisite. The engineers and producer "play" their mixing boards and recording decks with as much under-the-radar mastery as the musicians, finding balance and clarity for every instrument and voice. No wall of sound here...just delicacy and beauty, and glimmerings of the unspoken sadness that gave wings to the joy in Jobim's music.

An old Jobim lyric translates roughly as "Happiness is a traveler who visits your house, but cannot stay..." The Brazilians speak of "fada," a paradoxical view of fate: in their view, although each life must inevitably come to sorrow (for it is our nature), happiness and beauty burn brighter by our knowledge that we can enjoy them for whatever time we are able to hold them in our hands.

Jobim, too, was a visitor who could not stay...but his spirit burns on brightly in this album.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, one of the most exquisite CDs I know, October 4, 2002

By 

Adam Cohen (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Morelenbaum (2)/Sakamoto: Casa (Tribute to Jobim) (Audio CD)

This CD is a must-have for any serious music lover, a true masterpiece melding Jobim's timeless compositions--some of which are virtually unknown even to major fans like myself--with brilliant and perfectly rendered arrangements for piano, cello, and voice. Paula Morelenbaum sings on most cuts with what to me is the purest, sweetest voice of any female vocalist treating Brazilian popular music, if not any music. The arrangements are unique and somewhat surprising at first, but then one quickly realizes that they reveal the amazing emotional depth of Jobim's musical ideas in a way that has never been done before. If you love jazz, classical music, and of course, Brazilian music, you will not go wrong with this recording and may, like me, find it almost impossible to stop playing again and again.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER GEM..., September 11, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morelenbaum (2)/Sakamoto: Casa (Tribute to Jobim) (Audio CD)

...and I was sure that the Morelenbaums couldn't easily top their previous album (QUARTETO JOBIM-MORELENBAUM). This new release finds Paula and Jacques joined by the amazingly talented Japanese pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto -- and if you think that's an inappropriate addition, wait until you hear this beautiful recording. Sakamoto's work has long been considered some of the best around -- his soundtracks alone are enough to cement his place in music's hall of hallows -- and his creativity and sensitivity are well-spent on these tunes by Brazil's legendary songwriting master, Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Paula's vocals are stunning in their emotion and loveliness, and Jaques' cello is perfect in every way. There are several notable 'guests' on the recording as well: Paulo Jobim, a member of the aforementioned Quarteto, adds his tasteful guitar work; Ed Motta duets with Paula on vocals on one track; Luiz Brasil is along on guitar; Zeca Assumpcao delivers on bass; and the astonishing (but never overpowering) touches of Marcos Suzano on percussion complete the mix.

My only (minor) complaint about the track selections is the inclusion of the final track, a live improvisation. While it showcases the imaginations and musical telepathy shared by Jaques and Ryuichi, it's a little cacophonous for the rest of the material -- but it's definitely not enough to compel me to drop my rating of this fine recording below its well-deserved 'five stars'.