Customer Reviews

Tour De Force

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

 

 

Recently repackaged on a single CD, these two early '60s albums by guitarist Djalma de Andrade (aka Bola Sete) are nothing short of dazzling. While he clearly shared a rhythmic and melodic affinity with his Brazilian contemporaries, Sete was a little miscast as a member of the bossa nova crowd -- already living and working in California at the time of the Getz-Gilberto breakthrough, Bola Sete had already developed his own style, much bouncier and more overtly aligned with the West Coast jazz scene. In his quieter moments, he could easily touch on the cool reserve of the bossa scene, but he also swung with abandon, revelling in a good, strong backbeat. Both of these albums are recorded in a trio setting, with compact accompaniment -- bass, drums and percussion -- allowing the sprightly and impressive guitar work to come through loud and clear. Highly recommended!

I'm new to Bola Sete. This is the only music of his that I have heard. The music is masterful, I'm anxious to hear more and so I've ordered Ocean Memories. In describing his sound I would certainly say bossa nova although that is a simplification. He wowed them at the Monterray Jazz Festival in 1962, its understandable. Listening to it feels like your listening to a backstage jam session by a band about to go out and play Girl from Ipanema for the thousandth time, or perhaps it feels like ordering from the Chinese menu instead of the one they give out to Americans at a Chinese restaurant. In other words, while Getz/Giberto and Jazz Samba are brilliant, they brought bossa nova to the mainstream and thus in someway dumbed down the music for mass conumption (witness the dozens of syruppy orchestral accompaniments to later bossa nova albums). Bola Sete never joined that crowd. He stayed behind (not literally, he was in America before the bossa nova craze even hit) composing and arranging 2 brilliant albums presented here. It includes originals, Brazilian songs, Flamenco, even Motzart and Mancini. Sete never was swept into the 60's Bossa Nova mainstream and never left his Brazilian roots.

The playing is very good & the recording was primative on these early '60s recordings of master Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete... BUT this collection is much more traditional Brazilian guitar [a la Baden Powell]& not the full-blown genius that is exhibited on Ocean Memories... Bola definitely matured into an amazing solo guitarist after these recordings were made & had a better studio 'n' effects to help him create an unmatched acoustic sonic environment later w/ "Ocean Memories" [his masterpiece recordings]... still, despite the poor sound quality 'n' percussion-heavy mixes, this is still a great acoustic Brazilian guitar CD for fans of such music... BUT i'd recommend "Ocean Memories" to those who want to hear the best of Bola Sete !!!!

This is my first and only Bola Sete CD. The songs start off with some heavy percussion which is a little too much but then the songs start to balance out by about the 8th song and by the end it's just guitar and it's beautiful stuff. I like it because there's a lot of songs on it and a variety of styles as well.