Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlanod
I'm working at home today so I have access to all my CDs and am playing one of my favorite Brazilian albums: Gilberto Gil & Jorge Ben's Gil & Jorge. It is a wonderful record from the 1970s where they improvise extended takes on nine of their songs.
It has a spare production with just their two acoustic guitars, bass, a percussion accompaniment and their two voices. No overdubbing, no studio tricks. Both Gil and Jorge are fantastic vocal stylists and the way they trade vocal licks and scats throughout the songs draws me into the music every time.
This is from an era when both Gil & Jorge were well into their exploration of their African heritage and especially the musical influences of Africa. There is a lot of polyrhythmic playfulness along with a little funk and a little rock and roll. They perform one of my favorite Jorge Ben songs, Taj Mahal. In the northern hemisphere it is probably most recognizable through the plagiarized refrain in Rod Stewart's Do You Think I'm Sexy.
- Donald
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I'm rather jealous that you have a bona fide CD of this. I love Afro-Latin sounds, old and new. I have a later recording of Jorge Ben with David Byrne on a tape cassette here somewhere, and I would definitely play it if I had a working cassette deck. And out on loan is a CD of various artists called Red, Hot & Rio which has songs written by Gilberto Gil, among others. Thanks for reminding me of them.
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