DVD of the Day - "Tania Maria & Laurindo Almeida"

DVD of the Day

Tania Maria & Laurindo Almeida: "The Beat of Brazil" (Arkadia) 2009

The front cover says: "Tanya Maria with special guest Laurindo Almeida." It's not true. They were filmed in different occasions and they don't met on stage.

Despite the several mistakes in this DVD production and (poor) edition, the musical content is excellent, mixing material performed separately by pianist/singer Tania Maria and guitar master Laurindo Almeida for the "AdLib" TV series in 1981.

The Brazilian jazz hurricane Tania Maria (mispelled Tanya in the cover!!!) leads an unpredictable unit with three great musicians that were fresh from their stints with different supergroups: Peruvian drummer Alex Acuña (former Weather Report member), Brazilian percussionist Laudir de Oliveira (ex-Chicago) and Spanish electric bassist Benny Bruñel (from Chick Corea's band).

Tania's repertoire includes the Nat "King" Cole hit "It's Not For Me To Say," Gordurinha's "Chiclete Com Banana" and her originals "Vem Pra Roda," "Eruption," "Yatra-Ta". Unfortunately, Johnny Alf's "O Que É Amar," the last song on the set, starts in fade-in, without the first part of the melody.
On his turn, Laurindo performs elegant adaptations of Debussy's "Clair de Lune" and Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire" plus Carlos Lyra's "Você e Eu."
Note: there are no credits to the musicians nor the composers in this DVD...