"Vamos Acabar com o Baile" [Let's stop the dance]

Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha) (1915-1955) remains a constant icon in Brazilian music thanks to his musical legacy, documented through the recordings he made and the compositions he wrote towards the end of his life. Garoto has had a lasting impact on the concept of playing the violão in Brazil being the first to explore new directions in choro and samba, inspired and influenced by American jazz harmony and classical composers like i.e. Debussy. Moreover, Garoto was a multi-string virtuoso devoting his skills to almost all plucked instruments: violão (6 string acoustic guitar), electric guitar, tenor guitar, banjo, cavaquinho, bandolim and even the Hawaiian steel guitar. Such a multi-faced tallent is hard to cope with, only few other figures in Brazilian music have dared to explore his tallent in all aspects. However, this does not mean that Garoto's music haven't been played and recorded by other artists, on the contrary, notable examples being Paulo Bellinati's recording of Garoto's guitar works from 1991, the various contributions by Raphael Rabello and the tribute release by Zé Menezes from 1998 a.o..

Just recently a new cd featuring musical compositions by Garoto has been released, 'Vamos Acabar com o Baile' by Henrique Cazes & Marcello Gonçalves on the Deckdisc label (click headline). The cd is a result of a project initiated by Henrique Cazes, cavaquinho virtuose, producer and music historian. To cellebrate his 30 years in music Henrique Cazes has joined forces with 7-string guitar virtuoso Marcello Gonçalves of Trio Madeira Brasil in an excellent tribute to Garoto's music by recording 13 of Garoto's compositions in a duo setting. The mentioned cd has Henrique Cazes playing both the cavaquinho and a tenor guitar similar to the one played by Garoto - it took Cazes 15 years to get this instrument he told in a recent interview. The interplay between Cazes and Gonçalves is just marvellous, the two musicians know each other in and out from an earlier collaboration devoted to Pixinguinha's music, the result being a recording that without doubt will rank among the highest rated of 2007 in the instrumental category. Highly recommended! - Tracklist inserted below.

1 - Gente Humilde; 2 - Vamos Acabar com o Baile; 3 - Sempre Perto de Você; 4 - Desvairada; 5 - Gracioso; 6 - Benny Goodman no Choro; 7 - Amoroso; 8 - Jorge do Fusa; 9 - Puxa - Puxa; 10 - Meditando (incidental: Esperança); 11 - Sinal dos Tempos; 12 - Duas Contas; 13 - Lamentos no Morro

This contribution is the 125th entry at the Choro Music blogspot.

Jo