Treasures from the Deep

Regindaldo Bassa-O Temp


Luiz Melodia-Ebano

These two come from a record that I found while staying with a friend in Sao Paulo. He inherited the records from his grandfather and this is one of his favorites. I wish I could tell you about the record. But the truth is-I can´t find a single thing on it. I just know that it´s a collection of songs from a music festival. The record features some well known and not so well known artist in their debut to the Brazilian public. I´ve never heard of Reginaldo Bassa, but I´m relativly new to the MPB game. As for Luiz Melodia, I know that after breaking out he went on to a very sucessful MPB career and is considered one of the greats of his time. I´ll continue to do my research-but for now just enjoys these tasty tracks. As soon as I get more I´ll be sure to update this post-but I´ve been holding these for a week and I think it´s time to share.

Tasty Brazilian Octopoid

Brazilian Octopus-Summer Hill


Brazilian Octopus-Gambao


No, I haven't changed the them of this blog to Brazilian Cuisine. This post here brings you an ear-full of what Brazil's best have to offer.

Brazilian Octopus. An LP that is legend among those who have very expensive and rare taste. The story goes that back in 1968 a few quality Brazilian musicians from various musical backgrounds got together in a studio in Sao Paulo and jammed their hearts out. The record is legend because it is the one and only recording from this group. The group was brought together by a fashion promoter named Livio Rangan who needed a band to rock out and make solid tracks for fashion shows.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about the artists on this album, because I don't. But I can say this. When I ask the guy for the CD he was shocked that a non-brazilian knew about it. Then he started pulling CD's off the wall of each the artists that are featured on this CD. It seemed that most of the artist are still heavy hitters. I then proceeded to ask him if he had the actual LP. He smiled and brought me over to a wall of LP's in a glass case. He pointed to the LP and said it was 1500 Reals. I did the quick math and realized that even with the Dollar going twice as far as the Real I couldn't afford it. I told him maybe I'll play the lottery and said I was fine with just the CD.

I can say this. When I heard this record the first time I was in New York and thought it was pure magic. When I asked the guy who it was he said something like "it's a rare Brazilian band that you can't find anywhere." I thought to my self: I bet you can find it in Brazil. Sure enough. . .I did. So now for the enjoyment of those who love delicious music and to the dismay of music snobs everywhere-here is Brazilian Octopus.