Osmar Milito – Viagem (1974) (2006 Japanese reissue)

Osmar Milito – Viagem (1974)
1974 Continental SLP 10135
Reissue 2006 Bomba Records, Japan BOM24100

1. Up Up And Away – 3:15
2. Bonita – 4:01
3. Mulher Rendeira – 3:32
4. Oração À Mãe Menininha – 3:03
5. Sangue Latino – 3:46
6. Que Maravilha – 4:05
7. Viagem – 3:16
8. Não Me Diga Adeus – 2:47
9. Planalto Geral – 2:37
10. Eu Só Quero Um Xodô – 3:00
11. Eu Bebo Sim – 3:12

Bonus Track:
12. Maracatu Atômico – 3:11


Light and breezy, pure and easy, that’s how I spent most of last week, and this album was a great soundtrack for it.  Osmar Milito is an interesting figure in Brazilian jazz, having a hand in the famous  Canecão club in Rio and playing with the likes of Sylvia Telles, Leny Andrade, and Flora Purim early in his career, and later on doing lots of soundtrack work for those venerable Brazilian exports, telenovelas.  His post-bossa nova records are collectible for a reason: they’re damn good listening.  Milito does the general arrangements and provides his groovy acoustic and electric piano stylings on a variety of tunes, many of which will be familiar to regular visitors to this blog.  It opens with Jimmy Webb’s hit for the 5th Dimension, “Up Up and Away” aka “Beautiful Balloon” which sets the dreamy, laid-back tone right away.   Milito once again proves my theory that Jorge Ben songs will always be recognizable as Jorge Ben songs, no matter how unconventional or dramatically different their presentation.   Que Maravailha has been almost completely purged of Ben’s trademark swing and lilt but still survives.  Although the strings were arranged by esteemed reed man Paulo Moura, I would almost consider this arrangement sacrilege if Osmar’s work wasn’t so charming in general.  If I may coin a new genre, I’d called it “Hardcore Easy Listening” (which differs from Extreme Easy Listening mostly in its less nihilistic ideology…)  The rhythm section (Roberto “Ronnie”, Chico Batera, and Tião Barros) simply can’t help but slip a groove in the pocket when you’re looking the other way, like musical spies planting evidence on the unsuspecting listener.  With only one original tune on the album (Osmar’s Planalto Geral), I suppose this all may work better for people who are somewhat familiar with these compositions already.  But there are so many delicious production choices.  Northeast Brazil has an especially strong presence on this record.  A couple of my favorites tunes here are Mulher Rendeira, a song which goes back to Lima Barretto’s 1953 film Os Cangaceiros, Caymmi’s Oração à Mãe Menininha and the Dominguinhos/Anastácia tune Eu Só Quero Um Xodô which had been a hit for Gilberto Gil.  This nice-sounding Japanese reissue features the bonus track of a single released around this time, a hypnotically soulful rendition of Jorge Mautner’s Maracatu Atômico which a good friend of mine says is the best version ever recorded. I definitely enjoy it more than the annoying Chico Science version from the 90s, but Gil’s original version from 1973 on which this one is based (he also recorded it on his late-70s US release, Nightingale) is pretty damn great too:

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6 Comments

  1. Tremendous LP and yes, that version of ‘Maracatu atomico’ is the best ever!

  2. Great! Thanks for the upgrade, and I also love this version of ‘Maracatu Atomico’ .

  3. thank you!

  4. Love the writeup and looking forward to hearing another album that seems to be right in my wheelhouse. Thank you Dr. Vibes!

  5. At least a couple of great tracks here –thank you for the share

  6. Jefferson Batista

    Link revogado

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