The Jordans – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
The Jordans – Esqueça Baby (What Does It Take To Win Your Love)
The Jordan – O Triunfador

This is another of the records Joel hipped me to back in May. Like the Agnaldo Rayol record, this one had a little post-it attached that mentioned “Thank You” and something along the lines of “Killer Funk!” That was enough to get me to pick it up off the shelf, but noticing that “Thank You” listed “Sly Stone” as the writer was the thing that made want to drop the needle on the record.

The Jordans were a largely instrumental group, originally formed in the first wave of Rock’n’Roll in Brasil in the late 1950s and maintaining some level of popularity well into the 1970s. The title of this record, Edição Extra, translates as “Extra Edition,” which would seem to be a play on the old-school newspaper term. I’m not sure if there was a real connection to that term, like there was an early version of a record and then they updated later with the “Extra Edition,” but it’s clear that part of what the title references is the “pop” nature of The Jordans style. Looking back at other editions, and other non “Edição” albums, the band seems to include between 6-10 covers on each record, essentially creating Brasilian versions of tops hits from elsewhere, mainly the U.S. or G.B.

This album features unmemorable versions of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” “Venus,” “Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday,” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” but then, at least oddly to me, there’s Sly Stone’s “Thank You,” and Johnny Bristol’s “What Does It Take To Win Your Love,” which are extra solid. “O Triunfador” is also a solid cover, though I’m not sure who did the original (perhaps Uruguay’s Los Iracundos?), but nothing outshines “Thank You,” with it’s smoky, slinky dark funk, creating a tone that’s different than the original, though as in line with “Riot” era Sly Stone.

Agnaldo Rayol – Sumaúma
Agnaldo Rayol – Não Sou Ninguém (I Who Have Nothing)
Agnaldo Rayol – Nossa Paz
Agnaldo Rayol – Pra Você

Started off the July edition of the Melting Pot Radio Hour with “Sumaúma” and thought it made good sense to highlight this record now. I don’t know much of anything about Agnaldo Rayol. Just by the glowing & knowing look he’s giving on the cover, I thought he’d be an actor, and sure enough, he is, right up to the present time.

This record came into my collection through Joel Oliveira of Tropicalia In Furs fame. At the pop-up, earlier this Summer (well, maybe not technically the Summer), Joel had this on the wall with a post-it note saying to check out “Sumaúma.” At a slower point in the day, I asked if I could drop the needle on a track on the house speakers, cueing up what I thought was “Sumaúma.” In actuality I’d misread the label and played the song after it, which was a slower, schmaltzy, crooner with way too much emoting from Rayol. The tune got several weird looks from the vocals, but despite that, it also got a few to ask what it was, mainly because of the exquisitely produced drums that you hear on every song. So crisp, so punchy, they are a marvel to hear.

Though I really really REALLY dug that drum sound, Rayol’s vocals were a deal breaker, at least until Joel walked up, and cued up “Sumaúma” properly and we all got our collective minds blown. Big beautiful blaring horns join those crispy drums, along with swelling strings and groovy worldless singing, and to top it all off, everything drops out at the end, leaving just drums and bass for the final seconds. Hearing all of that sealed the deal.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of several of the other tracks (and the fact that Rayol’s vocals are more palatable when they’re pushed up a notch on the turntables pitch control, as they are on the shared tracks above), including a cover of “I Who Have Nothing,” which I hadn’t realized was originally an Italian song, before being covered by a variety of American Soul Singers.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure out who the drummer is on this album. Also, even though there is a bit of info on the back, it’s not clear who was primarily responsible for the sound, though given that the only other album I have from the Copacabana record label from this period of time (the Jordans, which I’ll feature tomorrow) has a kind of similar style, I suspect buying more records from 1970-1971 will eventually allow me to track each down. What I’m absolutely certain of is how thankful I am to Joel for putting this, and so many others, on my radar.

The Forefront – Incantation
The Forefront – Frump Trump
The Forefront – Reverberations
The Forefront – That Which Has Vanished

If you’re a lover of horns, this one should quite literally be music to your ears. Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR horn players together, trading licks, getting funky and making beautiful music together. Had never heard of this record or this outfit before running into this record and that wild cover at one of the Boston Bob’s pop-ups at Rappcats. The artwork was enough to get me to put it in my pile, but the fact that the group had four horn players, each on a different type of trumpet (B flat, E Flat piccolo, B flat piccolo and F Alto) was super intriguing. When I was younger I played (well, more like attempted to play) trumpet, so I’ve always had a soft spot for the instrument, but I’d never heard of all these varieties, let alone imagine them all playing together in a jazz sextet. But here they are, played by Bobby Lewis, George Bean, Art Hoyle and Russ Iverson, with Jerry Coleman on the skins and the legendary Rufus Reid on bass to round out the ensemble, a group that had it’s roots in the Chicago jazz scene.

A quick needle drop on the lead track “Incantation” was all that was needed to cause a big broad smile to spread across my face. Starting with those cracking open drums and going right into some quintessentially 1970s sounding horn lines would have been cool enough, and I’m sure a lot of beat heads would have preferred the group to just lay right there in the pocket, but the Forefront had much bigger ideas in mind than simple grooves (as you can see below from the song descriptions from the back cover, with the four songs I’m sharing brought together through a slight photo edit). Even on “Frump Trump,” which is described as a “boogaloo,” the band still shifts tempo and melody in interesting ways beyond a “regular” jazz-funk sound.

For me though, they really shine on two of the less funky pieces on the album, “Reverberations,” and “That Which Has Vanished.” On “Reverberations” they make great use of the complimentary sounds of the horn players, with two players often playing each others lines, though with one slightly behind in order to give it a natural reverb/echo effect. The track would have been a marvel if it had just been a single player, overdubbing multiple parts, but knowing that there are minimal effects at work and four players playing live, simultaneously with each other, makes the track all the more stunning. “That Which Has Vanished” is described as a “very deep and intense piece,” and if the music wasn’t enough to prove that the band even quotes (in the notes below) from T.S. Eliot’s classic poem “The Hollow Men.” In addition to the work of the quartet of horns, there’s some really lovely bowed bass from Reid on this track, which was the first written by the group, and might be my favorite of the bunch. All told, this is one of only a number of times where an evocative and unique cover is perfectly matched to the music inside on the album.

Os Incríveis – Adeus Amigo Vagabundo
Os Incríveis – Mundo De Amor
Os Incríveis – Hi-De-Ho

I’ve had this one on the shelf for a while, and after it’s inclusion in the “Deep Under Cover” show me and Oliver did on Dublab this past week, seemed like a good time to finally post it up. Os Incríveis got their start more or less as part of the Jovem Guarda, the generation of Brasilian musicians who fully embraced Rock’n’Roll. As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, and Tropicalia became all the rage, they expanded their sound and as such, started to incorporate more psychedelic elements. Personally, I would have liked this album to include more of the tougher psychedelic sound that’s on display on their cover of Tony e Frankye’s Jimi Hendrix tribute “Adeus Amigo Vagabuno” (which they amp up the tribute factor by incorporating a bit of Jimi’s “Foxy Lady,” into the mix). “Amor De Mundo” shows that had the band been more influenced by Motown than the Beatles they might have been one of the leads in the Brazilian soul movement that was only nascent at this time. “Hi-De-Ho” is a strange one, it’s mostly a bit conventional, but with those open drums in the middle, it’s tailor-made for our post Hip-Hop ears. If only the band had realized that 45+ years later these would be the sounds we’d want most of all…if only.