Take it Easy my Brother, Charlie

Jorge Ben Jor-Take it easy my brother, Charlie

Jorge Ben Jor-O Telefone Toco Novamente

Jorge Ben Jor-Por Causa de Você, Menina

My trip to the musical Mecca of Brazil, Rio de Janiero, gave me the opportunity to see one of Brazil's musical greats live and in person. Jorge Ben Jor, perhaps one of the single most influencial MPB musicians, held it down old school style at the Circo Voador in Lapa, RJ.

Now I'm going to take some time on this one, because in my opinion Jorge Ben is an intersting chracter in the history of Brazilian music. I have to say-I'm just discovering how cool this kat is-so I don't claim to be a biogropher of the his work. But from listening to his music-I can say that I recognize the genius of his music.

Jorge Ben broke on to the Brazilian music scene in the early 1960's in the midst of the coup d'etat. When he drop his first LP, "Samba Esquema Nôvo," Brazil and the world were shocked by the fresh sounds this man was creating. Taking elements from Bossa Nova, throwing in some funky rock and some smooth blues, and making sure to keep grounded in his Samba roots-Jorge Ben hit the scene hard with his famous track "Mas Que Nada."

A side note here- "Mas Que Nada," is often confused to be a Sergio Mendez track. This is largely due to the fact that when Sergio Mendez introduced his Brazil '66 to the scene they made a killer version of the track. This track, which is more jazzier and has the female vocals became an international hit. The Black Eyed Peas have recently made another version with Sergio Mendez. But don't get it twisted-Jorge Ben deserves full credit. In fact he worked on the Sergio Mendez version as well, during a brief residence in L.A.

Jorge Ben had it rough in his early career because of pressures from his label and because his new musical style-weaving funk, rock, and blues into Brazilian music, and using electric guitars, was scene as anti-Brazilian. Purest like Bossa Nova/MPB great Elis Regina shunned him as being anti-Brazilian. But the man was just too funky to be held back- and his music inspired a new breed of left wing and super creative musicians from the Northern state of Bahia. When their movement picked up it became known as Tropicalia. The movement was small and short lived, but it was the intellectual and creative workshop for heavyweights like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Gal Costa, who all joined the ranks of Brazil's finest.

Ok, enough of the history lesson. To be honest-the guys over at Brazilian Beat Brooklyn are the true experts on Jorge Ben Jor. For a brief, but informative, starters guide on Brazilian Music-check out the Brazilian Beat Brooklyn website and blog. Caz has broken it down nicely and it will put more of this stuff into a larger context. As for me, I just think Jorge Ben is wicked funky and his music is super tasty. So all I can do now is to hit you all off with a nice range of his music. Listen, take it in, and enjoy.