Artiste: Azymuth
Album: Cascades / Rapid
Spotlight Track: Montreux
Label: Milestone
Catalog: MCD-47088-2
Jose Roberto Bertrami: Keyboards, Organ, Percussion, Vocoder, Vocals and Piano.
Alex Malheiros: Electric Bass, Percussion, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar.
Ivan Conti (Mamao): Drums, Percussion, Vocals.
Jose Carlos: Flute
Sidney Moreira (Cidinho):Anaraug, Miscellaneous Percussion.
It’s been a while folks. The year comes to an end with 2009 floating us by with a blink of an eye. It’s been an eventful year for most and we at HQ still have the flavours to ensure aural satisfaction for all you good folks.
To close our musical reviews for 09, I had a very tough choice choosing between rare groove, Berlin minimal house, stateside house, funk, jazz and alas I had to go for comfort food which lies in the fusion grooves of the Brazilian Trio “AZYMUTH.” These fellas have been rocking round the block for aeons and are still at it with their new found label mate “Far Out Records.” Their music has been played countless times by the maestros of many scenes such as Masters at Work, Patrick Forge, Norman Jay, Gilles P, etc.
Just a simple dose of fused sounds gives me the tingles with their musical composition. These guys have solid ideas when cooking up their production. Style-wise, it’s pure classy and groovy at the same time. Mentally groovy is how I see it and the infectious stabs and intricate samples used in their tunes just brings you to higher ecstasy.
Leader of the group Bertrami coins their music “Crazy Samba” and exposes that their musical approach is an impressionist one, whereby telling a story pervades the group sound and can range from Herbie Hancock’s sly polyrhythmic sounds to the backwoods folk song style of Milton Nascimento. Crazy Samba was established back in the 70’s by folks such as Flora and Airto as well as Eumir Deodato (who also by the way are our musical heroes) who reconstructed the CTI label formulae by incorporating pop soul, samba-funk and represented a new form of musical frontier.
Look no further if you are seeking slick and sick grooves coz these mofo’s got it goin ornnnn! To end of of 2009 and to usher in a positive 2010, “Montreux” the spotlight track recorded back in 1983 most definitely hits the spot and will continue to do so for many moons to come. I groove to it with a smile every single time I hear it coz it really seems to me an inspirational tune worth treasuring in your C Drive.
Tangkap This!!!
-Marcel
