Tamba Trio – Avanço (1963)

Tamba Trio – Avanço
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96 kHz | FLAC & mp3 | m3u|  Full Artwork
409 MB (24/96) + 206 MB (16/44) + 97 MB (320) |  Jazz Bossa | 1963
Philips ~ P-632.154-L ~ Mono Pressing, Made in Brazil

A1     Garôta De Ipanema (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius De Moraes)
A2     Mas, Que Nada !    (Jorge Ben)
A3     Negro    (Roberto Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli)
A4     Mania De Maria    (Luiz Bonfá, Maria Helena Toledo)
A5     Vento Do Mar    (Durval Ferreira, Luiz Fernando Freire)
A6     Sonho De Maria    (Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)
B1     Só Danço Samba    (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius De Moraes)
B2     O Samba Da Minha Terra    (Dorival Caymmi)
B3     Môça Flor    (Durval Ferreira, Paulo Sérgio Valle)
B4     Rio    (Roberto Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli)
B5     Tristeza De Nós Dois    (Bebeto Castilho, Durval Ferreira, Mauricio Einhorn)
B6     Esperança    (Durval Ferreira, Luiz Fernando Freire, Mauricio)

Piano, arrangements – Luíz Eça
Classical Guitar – Durval Ferreira (Gato)
Contrabass, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Adalberto Castilho (Bebeto)
Percussion – Helcio Millito

Engineer – Sylvio Rabello
Layout – Paulo Breves
Liner Notes – Don Rossé Cavaca
Orchestral arrangements – Tamba Trio (tracks: B3, B6)

Photography By – Francisco Pereira Netto
Producer – Armando Pittigliani
Technician – Célio Martins

Recorded at Companhia Brasileira De Discos

Original mono Vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 96khz; clicks and pops removed with Click Repair, manually auditioned, and individually with Adobe Audition 3.0; resampled using iZotope RX 2 Advanced SRC and dithered with MBIT+ for 16-bit. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp.  Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.

The title of this record means “Advance” in English, but it feels more like a step back to me, am I right?  Actually I don’t really think that, that just seemed like the kind of snarky thing a pro music journalist might say when they are short on ideas and trying to fill a word quota.  This second album from Tamba Trio is still prime material.  But I do find it slightly less charming than the debut, about which you can read here.  I try to force myself to approach the album with fresh ears, because Garota de Ipanema was still extremely fresh in 1963 and still many years from becoming an elevator cliché or catwalk fodder for Gisele Bündchen, but I still wish they had not opened the proceedings with it.  It’s a move calculated to highlight how forward-thinking and contemporary Tamba Trio were at the time, and I suppose that is at the crux of my (very minor) griping here. Whereas the debut felt genuinely new and bubbling with playful spontaneity, this second effort feels a little burdened with a self-conscious hyper-modern posture.  The best of example of this is their rendition of Caymmi’s “O Samba da Minha Terra.”

O Samba da Minha Terra

I don’t dislike it, but the musical deconstruction they put the song through feels a little academic to me, undertaken with a bit of a “we’re doing this just because we can” showiness.  Like that friend constantly posting Zizek memes on her social media, you have a strong suspicion that in a few years this will seem contrived or even silly.  They use Dorival’s classic as a launchpad for their virtuosity, but there is little left of the original spirit of the song.  The arrangement of “Só Danço Samba” is a bit precious as well, but strong, parsimonious solos from Bebeto on bass and Luíz Eça tickling the ivories keep my patience from becoming exhausted.  Perhaps they felt a critical or commercial pressure to avoid the cursed sophomore slump by deliberating trying not to replicate the winning formula of the first record too closely.  The instrumental pallet is expanded, with nylon-stringed guitar supplied by Gato (Durval Ferreira, who had a few compositions on the first album), Bebeto is on saxophone as well as flute this time, and there is an addition of string arrangements to two songs.  There also seems to be more vocal numbers here although I am too lazy today to count them.  In addition to the expected staples from Jobim & Vinicius and Menescal & Boscoli, the repertoire includes numbers from some titans of song not featured on the first album – Jorge Ben, who was a new kid on the block, and the aforementioned Dorival Caymmi, who wasn’t, as well as Luiz Bonfá and the Brothers Valle.  Of course, the musicianship can’t be faulted anywhere, with everyone involved turning in fine performances.  And, again, I often wish the tape rolled a little longer on these cuts, only a few of which crack the three minute mark.  That funky blue-noted piano vamp at the end of “Moça Flor” sounds like it went on for at least another minute or two, but the track fades and we’re left imagining a longer version playing out somewhere along the Beco das Garrafas.  Eça does get to stretch his fingers quite a bit on “Tristeza de Nós Dois” on which he reminds us just who is in command of this trio.  Have a listen –

Tristeza de Nós Dois

My copy of this LP is in slightly less-good condition than the debut, so the astute listener will notice a few blemishes here and there, but I think it is still pretty enjoyable.

Early 60’s album covers were very fond of representing artists as free-floating beings against a blank or abstracted background.  The more I notice this, the more I want to give them an actual place to sit or stand, liberating them out of their space-time purgatory.  So I’ve taken some liberties today.  Here is Tamba Trio on tour and waiting for a flight in a busy airport.  They’ve just had an argument so have taken to separate corners for optimum sulking.

And here’s Tamba Trio waiting their turns in an opium den.  They look a little impatient, I think.

password: vibes

Liked it? Take a second to support Dr. Vibes on Patreon!