Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Antonio Carlos Jobim, one of the great composers of the 20th century, was a master of bossa nova experimentalism. Emerging from Brazil’s burgeoning music scene in the 1950’s, Jobim’s groundbreaking, jazz-inflected sound took the genre to new heights, and it continued to evolve right up to his death in 1994.
His classic 1970 recording Stone Flower is one of a set of 16 sparkling reissues of records originally released on jazz giant Creed Taylor’s CTI label. Not widely regarded as one of Jobim’s finest albums, it’s nevertheless a nearly flawless set of compositions that draw on a rainbow influences.
Jobim’s versatility shines from track to track. “Children’s Games” is a spritely jazz waltz, which features Jobim’s rich acoustic guitar plucking, followed later in the record by the beautiful, darkened piano ballad “Amparo” and the high-reaching jazz fusion of “God And The Devil In The Land Of The Sun.”
Jobim’s cover of the Ary Barroso standard “Brazil” may seem like too obvious a choice, but he makes it sizzle, with the indispensable help of a hall of fame rhythm section: drummer Joao Palma and bassist Ron Carter. When Jobim lends his soft, whispery vocals to the track, he truly makes it his own.
In the hands of a lesser composer and arranger, these charts would be pumped through the elevator speakers of the country’s Holiday Inns. Like Burt Bacharach, Jobim writes simple vamps that could easily be embraced by the cult of club-footed demons that produce Muzak, but he has a higher goal. His string arrangements are fantastic throughout, the instrumental combinations are tasteful and never tired, and the end result is an album that doubles as a hearth. It emotes a relaxing, natural warmth that will soothe you like chamomille, the whole time gently urging you to set down your mug and dance. This is dinner music with soul.
Appeared in Issue Two, 2002, of Traffic East.