Paulo Moura
“Fibra”
Released 1971
Reissue 2007 on Coleção Galeria / Atração
01. Fibra 2:35
02. Ana Lia’s Blue 3:26
03. Filgueiras 2:58
04. Samba de orfeu 3:33
05. Tema dos deuses 3:04
06. Vera Cruz 3:30
07. Aquarela do Brasil 3:20
08. Cravo e canela 2:47
09. General da banda 2:50
10. Bitucadas nº2 3:16
Obituary from the New York Times
July 18, 2010
Paulo Moura, a Force in Brazilian Music, Dies at 77
By LARRY ROHTERPaulo Moura, a virtuoso instrumentalist and a composer, arranger and orchestrator of numerous styles of Brazilian popular music, died on July 12 in Rio de Janeiro. He was 77.
Mr. Moura’s death was announced on his Web site, paulomoura.com. According to reports in the Brazilian news media, the cause was lymphoma.
A master of both the clarinet and the saxophone, Mr. Moura was known for his versatility, playing and writing music that ranged in style from jazz, chorinho, samba and bossa nova to classical. His first solo recording, released in 1956, was a version of Paganini’s “Moto Perpetuo,” and late in his career he wrote, performed and conducted “Urban Fantasy for Saxophone and Symphonic Orchestra.”
In 1992 Mr. Moura won a prize as best soloist at the Mozart Festival in Moscow, and in 2000 he was awarded a Latin Grammy for the recording “Pixinguinha,” live performances of a collection of songs associated with the composer of that same name, who is considered the father of Brazilian popular music.
Mr. Moura had a long connection to the great Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. During the bossa nova boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mr. Moura played with Jobim and other luminaries of the genre, among them Sergio Mendes. As a member of the group Bossa Rio, which also included Mr. Mendes, he participated in a bossa nova night at Carnegie Hall in November 1962, and played on the American saxophonist Cannonball Adderley’s album “Cannonball’s Bossa Nova” that same year.
More recently he released a CD called “Paulo Moura Visits Gershwin and Jobim” and toured internationally with other Brazilian artists as part of the show “Homage to Jobim.”
“I used to rehearse by day at the Municipal Theater and play live at night on TV Excelsior,” Mr. Moura recalled years later when asked how he came to be involved with bossa nova. “The bus would leave Ipanema for downtown and pass through Copacabana, and sometimes I would get off the bus midway so as to be able to meet up with colleagues” like Mr. Mendes and Jobim.
Paulo Moura was born in the interior of the state of São Paulo on July 15, 1932, one of 10 brothers and sisters who were taught to play different instruments by their father, a saxophone and clarinet player, with the idea of forming a family orchestra. As a teenager he moved to Rio de Janeiro to enroll in the National School of Music, and he soon began playing in nightclubs and on radio stations there.
By the late ’50s, Mr. Moura had also won a spot as lead clarinetist in the orchestra of the Municipal Theater in Rio; he played a Debussy rhapsody at his audition. But at the same time he was working as an accompanist to visiting American artists like Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Sammy Davis Jr. That dual situation persisted until 1978, when he decided to quit the orchestra and dedicate himself exclusively to a solo career.
Over the next 30 years he made numerous recordings. The last, issued in July 2009, was “AfroBossaNova,” a collaboration with his fellow Brazilian musician Armandinho. Mr. Moura also wrote the soundtracks for several Brazilian films and television series, occasionally appearing as an actor, and arranged music for Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, João Bosco and other singers. In addition, for two years in the 1980s he served as director of the Museum of Image and Sound in Rio.
Mr. Moura’s survivors include his wife, Halina Grynberg, a psychoanalyst who also served as his business manager, and two sons, Pedro and Domingos.
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Obituary from the Folha de São Paulo
Obra de Paulo Moura ficará como exemplo de liberdade
Carlos Calado
Folha de S.Paulo . 14/07/2010A música brasileira perdeu um de seus instrumentistas mais brilhantes.
Morreu anteontem, vítima de linfoma (câncer no sistema linfático), o clarinetista, saxofonista, compositor, arranjador e regente Paulo Moura. Nascido em São José do Rio Preto (SP), ele completaria 78 anos amanhã.
Sua trajetória musical foi incomum. Filho de um mestre de banda de coreto, radicou-se com a família em 1945, no Rio de Janeiro.
Aos 19 anos estreou como solista da Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira. Foi clarinetista da Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal carioca, mas a formação erudita não o impediu de cultivar sua intensa paixão pela música popular brasileira e pelo jazz.“Praticamente, me criei na gafieira”, dizia Moura, que na década de 1950 também tocou em bailes e emissoras de rádio, integrando as orquestras de Zacharias e Oswaldo Borba, época em que acompanhou cantores de sucesso, como Nelson Gonçalves, Dircinha Batista e Carlos Galhardo.
Já na década seguinte, frequentou o Beco das Garrafas, templo da bossa nova e do samba-jazz.
Como saxofonista do sexteto Bossa Rio, liderado por Sérgio Mendes, em 1962, tocou até no histórico concerto de bossa nova no Carnegie Hall, em Nova York, ao lado de Tom Jobim, João Gilberto e Luiz Bonfá, entre outros.
Em meio a uma carreira musical tão eclética, uma das contribuições mais originais de Moura surgiu em 1976, sinalizando seu reencontro com o universo do samba e do choro.
INOVAÇÃO
Depois de tocar por alguns meses com o sambista Martinho da Vila, gravou o inovador “Confusão Urbana, Suburbana e Rural”, álbum que contribuiu ativamente para reacender o interesse pelo samba-choro das orquestras de gafieira.Esse projeto também marcou de forma definitiva sua obra. Na época voltou até a tocar em uma gafieira da praça Tiradentes, no centro do Rio, despertando a atenção de outros músicos, que iam ouvi-lo.
Desde então seu crescente interesse pela rítmica brasileira gerou outros álbuns nessa linha musical, como “Mistura e Manda” (1983), “Gafieira Etc. e Tal” (1986) e “Pixinguinha” (1988).
Ainda na década de 1980, sua prolífica parceria com a pianista Clara Sverner, registrada em três álbuns com repertório erudito e popular, abriu caminho para preciosas colaborações com outros figurões da música instrumental, como Raphael Rabello, Arthur Moreira Lima, Wagner Tiso, Nivaldo Ornelas, João Donato e
Yamandu Costa, todas registradas em disco.
A associação mais recente, com o bandolinista baiano Armandinho, rendeu o CD “AfroBossaNova” (2009).
Num cenário em que ainda se insiste em criar fronteiras rígidas entre gêneros e estilos, a música do grande Paulo Moura ficará para sempre como um exemplo vital de liberdade.
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From Paulo Moura’s official website, about the reissue of this album:
Por fim, de 1971, temos “Fibra” – que já recebera uma caprichada
edição norte-americana em CD, em 2002, e uma brasileira, bem
parecida com as cópias piratas que vemos hoje em dia, sem data, sem
créditos aos músicos, com os nomes das músicas errados, etc. Neste
disco, Paulo Moura volta à formação com sete músicos e, além de seu
sax alto, temos novamente Oberdan Magalhães – sax tenor e flauta -,
Cesário Gomes, trombone, Wagner Tiso – piano e órgão -, Luiz Alves –
contrabaixo e violão -, além de Márcio Montarroyos, no trompete e
flugelhorn, e Robertinho Silva na bateria e percussão. O disco tem,
ainda, as participações de Tavito tocando guitarra em quatro faixas e
Milton Nascimento tocando piano em uma. “Aquarela do Brasil”, “Cravo
e canela”, “Vera Cruz” e “Tema dos deuses” são algumas das músicas
do disco que traz, ainda e de novo, “Samba de Orfeu”, “General da
banda” e “Bitucadas nº 2”, presentes em “Paulo Moura Hepteto”, mas
com diferenças de arranjos que músicos diferentes na banda sempre
impõem.
As capas originais dos LPs são mantidas nos novos CDs, acrescidas de
uma moldura que chancela o nome “Coleção Galeria” que a Atração
Fonográfica está dando a este relançamento.
Paulo Moura, como músico e comportamento artístico, é dono de uma
trajetória irrepreensível. Prefere todos, entre os vários estilos musicais,
o que vem permitindo, ao longo de sua carreira, tocar em gafieiras,
cafés, grandes orquestras, pequenos conjuntos e grupos de choro,
acompanhar e fazer arranjos para diversos e grandes nomes, como
Dalva de Oliveira, Elis Regina, Milton Nascimento e João Bosco, escrever
para orquestras sinfônicas, tocar em duo com violonistas – como com
Raphael Rabello, em 1992, e Yamandú Costa, em 2004 -, ganhar o
prêmio de melhor solista no Festival Mozart, em Moscou (Rússia, 1992),
junto com o pianista norte-americano Cliff Korman tocar Gershwin e
Jobim (1998) e promover o encontro entre as obras de Pixinguinha e
Duke Ellington (1999) e, mais recentemente, gravar com o cantor
pernambucano, Josildo Sá, o disco “Samba de Latada”, lançado este
ano. O que poderia parecer falta de estilo, ou ecletismo barato, em
Paulo Moura é definição de versatilidade e genialidade.
Na contracapa do LP “Fibra”, em 1971, Moura escrevia: “Aqui são raras
as oportunidades que tem o solista de mostrar suas possibilidades. (…)
O artista consciente que, dia a dia, vem procurando aperfeiçoar seus
conhecimentos, fatalmente se distancia de um gosto médio. Nem
mesmo saberia como fazer as tais concessões que lhe são solicitadas.”
A carreira de Paulo Moura é um exemplo eloqüente de que não é
necessário fazer concessões para alcançar os mais altos patamares.
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Flabber-blurb:
Before I say anything else, I should warn the prospective listener that if you are planning to hear Paulo’s (snake)charming clarinet, you won’t find any of it on this album. He sticks to the alto saxophone and flute on this one. Also, no choro. This is early-70’s post-bossa jazz fusion before it became the Devil’s plaything. His band includes Wagner Tiso on piano, who would remain a frequent collaborator throughout the years, as well as Milton Nascimento (playing on one song, but contributing with some writing credits). The lineup also includes the ubiquitous Robertinho on the drum kit and Oberdon Magalhães, who would later come to notoriety as part of Banda Black Rio, on tenor saxophone.
In fact in terms of production and execution this record sits quite nicely with the early Clube de Esquina work. Moura would appear on their landmark album released the following year, and also Milton’s most adventurous record ‘Milagre dos Peixes’, and the repertoire includes several compositions from that collective (“Tema dos Deuses” from Som Imaginario, “Vera Cruz” from Milton’s ‘Courage’, and “Cravo e Canela”, the one painfully weak song here, which – as far as I know – had yet to be released in any form yet). “Cravo e Canela” would be interpreted by a whole slew of people, often very badly, although oddly enough one of the more interesting versions would appear on Banda Black Rio’s ‘Gafieira Universal’. The rest of the tracks include one composition from Moura (“Fibra”), a few from Tiso, and some Brazilian standards (“Samba de Orfeu,” “Aquelera do Brasil”, “General da banda”). The album is recorded and mixed wonderfully, with that slightly trippy and psychedelic tinge familiar to those Mineiros mentioned above. Robertinho’s drums are mixed with a rather strong plate reverb panned to the left channel that sounds pretty cool but eventually becomes a little cloying, making me wish they would have used the technique a little more sparingly and only on a few cuts. Is this a typical, characteristic Paulo Moura album? Probably not, but then what IS a typical album from a guy who recorded so much and in so many contexts. To say he will be missed is to put it rather mildly – over the last week there has been a mournful but warm response to the news in Brazil for an artistic life well-lived.
this looks very interesting… but unfortunately flac looks to be a mp3 because 86mb is too small for a lossless…maybe is it possible to have the real flac? thank you very much in advance, your blog have a lot of fantastic music
aw crap, the link is wrong. It is up though, i will correct it when i get home
Thanks for your excellent blog!
thank you again flabbergast…meanwhile I had listened the mp3, great album!!
FLAC is fixed, sorry for the delay!
senha – password is:
vibes
Thanks Vibes!
Thanks for this Flabbergast, love this version of 'Vera Cruz". Well I always like versions of 'Vera Cruz', but really nicely put together arrangement …
Olá! Gostaria de saber se há como repostar o disco! Estou interessadíssimo e não o encontro na internet. Grato pela atenção e pelo blog.
Um abraço!
http://freetexthost.com/jcqk0irdn5
Thanks very much for this!!
I love this album and its sophisticated arrangements. Great stuff! Thank you Flabbergast!
Many thanks – I had missed this one too 😉
Sem link