BILLY ECKSTINE: Momento brasileiro

BILLY ECKSTINE: Momento brasileiro
Como é mesmo aquele ditado horroroso? "Pau que dá em Chico também dá em Francisco..." Prefiro este, bem mais poético: "O vento que venta lá é o mesmo que venta aqui..." Depois desse breve momento de filosofia de botequim, vamos ao que interessa: assim como Nara Leão gravou os "standards-made-in-USA" com letras em português, o grande BILLY ECKSTINE, no sentido contrário, gravou este álbum de canções brasileiras, devidamente vertidas para o idioma inglês.
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BILLY ECKSTINE
Billy Eckstine (8 July 1914–8 March 1993), born William Clarence Eckstein in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a ballad singer and bandleader of the Swing Era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular music. Raised in Washington, D.C., Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows. He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone he made music his focus. After working his way west to Chicago, Eckstine joined Earl Hines' Grand Terrace Orchestra in 1939, staying with the band as vocalist and, occasionally, trumpeter, until 1943. By that time, he had begun to make a name for himself through the Hines band's radio shows and such juke box hits as "Stormy Monday Blues" and his own "Jelly Jelly." In 1944, Eckstine formed his own big band and made it a fountainhead for young musicians who would reshape jazz by the end of the decade, including Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Art Blakey,
harlie Parker, and Fats Navarro. Tadd Dameron and Gil Fuller were among the band's arrangers and Sarah Vaughan gave the vocals a contemporary air. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra was the first bop big-band, and its leader reflected bop innovations by stretching his vocal harmonics into his normal ballads. Despite the group's modernist slant, Eckstine hit the charts often during the mid-'40s, with Top Ten entries including "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love." On the group's frequent European and American tours, Eckstine, popularly known as Mr. B., also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar. After a few years of touring with road hardened
be-boppers, Eckstine became a solo performer in 1947, and seamlessly made the transition to string-filled balladry. He recorded more than a dozen hits during the late '40s, including "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." He was one of the first artists to sign with the newly established MGM Records and had immediate hits with revivals of "Everything I Have Is Yours" (1947), Richard Rodgers’ and Lorenz Hart’s "Blue Moon" (1948), and Duke Ellington’s, Irving Mills and Juan Tizol’s "Caravan" (1949). He had further success in 1950 with Victor Young’s theme song to "My Foolish Heart" and a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit, "I Apologize." However, unlike Nat "King" Cole who followed him into the pop charts, Eckstine’s singing, especially his exaggerated vibrato, sounded increasingly mannered and he was unable to sustain his recording success throughout the decade. While enjoying success in the middle-of-the-road and pop fields, Eckstine occasionally returned to his jazz roots, recording with Vaughan, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones for separate LPs, and he regularly topped the Metronome and Downbeat Polls in the Top Male Vocalist category.
Among Eckstine's best records of the fifties was a 1957 duet with Sarah Vaughan, "Passing Strangers," a minor hit in 1957, but a perennial hit in the UK. Even before folding his band, Eckstine had recorded solo to support it, scoring two million-sellers in 1945 with "Cottage for Sale" and a revival of "Prisoner of Love." Far more successful than his band recordings, though more mannered and pompously sung, these prefigured Eckstine’s future career. Where before black bands had played ballads, jazz and dance music, in the immediate post-war years they had to choose. The classic 1960 live in Las Vegas LP No Cover, No Minimum featured Eckstine
taking a few trumpet solos as well. He recorded several albums for Mercury and Roulette during the early '60s, and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid-'60s. After recording very sparingly during the '70s, for Al Bell's, Stax/Enterprise imprint, Eckstine although still performing to adoring audiences throughout the world, made his last recording, the Grammy nominated
Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter in 1986. Eckstine was a style leader and noted sharp dresser. He designed and patented a high roll collar that formed a B over a Windsor-knotted tie, which became known as a Mr. B. Collar. In addition to looking cool, the collar expanded and contracted without popping open, which allowed his neck to swell while playing his horns. The collars were worn by many a hipster in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Legend has it his refined appearance also had an effect on trumpeter Miles Davis. Once when Eckstine came across a dishevelled Davis in the depths of heroin excess, his remark "Looking sharp, Miles" served as a wake-up call for Davis who promptly returned to his father's farm in the winter of 1953 and finally kicked the habit. In 1984, Eckstine recorded his final album, I Am A Singer, featuring beautiful ballads arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo. He died on March 8, 1993, aged 78.
(Source: www.wordlingo.com - edited by CB)
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ALBUM REVIEW
This is Billy Eckstine - Momento Brasileiro (1979), recorded in California, US - a tribute of Mr. Eckstine to the music of Brazil. Momento Brasileiro was arranged by Oscar Castro Neves and produced by Aloysio de Oliveira. The orchestra is comprised of "top notch" musicians -- a true "dream team". Pretty good stuff.
(CB)
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MINHA OPINIÃO
O grande cantor BILLY ECKSTINE acabou ofuscando o músico Mr. B, que tocava (e bem!) trombone, trumpete e guitarra. Os jazzmaníacos "da antiga" certamente se lembram que a "big band" de Billy Eckstine tem uma grande importância histórica, por ter sido a primeira grande formação do "be bop"; dela fizeram parte alguns "monstros sagrados" como: Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker e Fats Navarro. Os arranjos para a legendária banda de Mr. B eram escritos por caras do calibre de Tadd Dameron e Gil Fuller, enquanto a vocalista era nada menos que Sarah Vaughan. É mole ou quer mais? Este álbum, que reúne algumas grandes canções brasileiras e dois "standards", se insere entre os bons discos de cantores norte-americanos que se renderam aos encantos da música brasileira. Os arranjos (inspiradíssimos) são de Oscar Castro Neves, que formou um "dream team" para acompanhar o grande Mr. B.

(*) Quem poderia imaginar que a animada e carnavalesca marchinha, "Cidade Maravilhosa", escondia uma belíssima canção de amor ao Rio de Janeiro? Confiram o arranjo, delicadíssimo.

(**) O álbum foi gravado em duas etapas: a primeira em Hollywood, Cal. (USA), com as bases, metais, percussão, voz, etc. As cordas foram gravadas no Rio de Janeiro, com músicos brasileiros, e adicionadas, posteriormente,
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BILLY ECKSTINE: Momento brasileiro

Orchestra arranged and conducted by OSCAR CASTRO NEVES

PERSONNEL:

01 - CIDADE MARAVILHOSA (Rio)

DON GRUSIN -piano acústico
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES -piano Fender
RAY BROWN -contrabaixo
SHELLY MANNE -bateria
JOHN PISANO -guitarra elétrica
DICK NASH -trombone (solo)

02 - I APOLOGIZE

DON GRUSIN -piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL -baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON- bateria
STEVE FORMAN -percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - guitarra acústica
DON MENZZA & BUD SHANK -flautas
NELSON HATT -flugelhorn
JACK NIMI1Z -clarone

03 - QUIET NIGHTS (Corcovado)

OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - pianos acústicos
RAY BROWN - contrabaixo (solo)
SHELLY MANNE - bateria
JOHN PISANO - guitarra elétrica
NELSON HATT - piston
DICK NASH - trombone
BUD SHANK - pícolo
JACK NIMITZ - flauta
TERRY HARRINGTON- sax tenor

04 - WHERE OR WHEN

DON GRUSIN - piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL - baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON- bateria
STEVE FORMAN -percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - guitarra acústica
DON MENZA & BUD SHANK -flautas

05 - DINDI
DON GRUSIN - piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL - baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON - bateria
STEVE FORMAN - percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - guitarra acústica
DICK NASH - trombone (solo)
BUD SHANK & DON MENZA - flautas
NELSON HATT - flugelhorm
JACK NIMITZ - clarone

06 - DORA
DON GRUSIN- piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL - baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON - bateria
STEVE FORMAN - percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - guitarra acústica
BUD SHANK & TERRY HARRINGTON -flauta & sax alto (solo)
DICK NASH - trombone
NELSON HATT - piston
JACK NIMITZ - clarone

07 - DREAMER

DON GRUSIN - piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL - baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON - bateria
STEVE FORMAN - percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES - guitarra acústica
BUDSHANK& TERRY HARRINGTON- flautas
DICK NASH - trombone (solo)
NELSON HATT - flugelhorn & piston

08 - VOCÊ E EU

DON GRUSIN -piano acústico (solo)
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES -piano Fender
RAY BRO WN -contra-baixo (solo)
SHELLY MANNE -bateria
JOHN PISANO -guitarra elétrica (solo)
DICK NASH -trombone
BUD SHANK -flauta & sax alto (solo)
TERRY HARRINGTON -flauta .& sax tenor
JACK NIMI1Z -clarone, sax baritono & flauta
NELSON HATT -flugelhorn & piston
DON GRUSIN -piano Fender

09 - HOW INSENSITIVE (INSENSATEZ)

DON GRUSIN -piano Fender
ABE LABORIEL -baixo elétrico
CLAUDIO SLON -bateria
STEVE FORMAN -percussão
OSCAR CASTRO NEVES -guitarra acústica
DON MENZA & BUD SHANK -flautas

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CORDAS :

a) Violinos:
Marcello Pompeu Filho (Spalla)
Walter Gomes de Souza
Michel Bessler
Nathércia T. da Silva
Nelson Abramento
Stanislaw Smilgin
José Dias de Lana
Ernani Bordinhão

b) Violas:
Adolfo Pissarenko
Jandory de Almeida
Nathércia T. da Silva

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
01 — Cidade Maravilhosa (André Filho / Vrs. Regina Werneck)
02 — I Apologize (A. Hofman / A. Goodhart / E. Nelson)
03 — Quiet Nights (Corcovado) (Tom Jobim /. Vrs G. Lees)
04 — Onde ou quando (R. Rodgers / Hart L.)
05 — Dindi (Tom Jobim / Aloysio de Oliveira / Vrs. Gilbert Ray)
06 — Dora (Dorival Caymmi / Vrs. Aloysio de Oliveira)
07 — Dreamer (Vivo Sonhando) (Tom Jobim /. Vrs G. Lees)
08 — You And I (Você e Eu) (Carlos Lyra / Vinicius de Moraes / Vrs. Gimbell)
09 — How Insensitive (Insensatez) (Tom Jobim / Vinicius de Moraes / Vrs. Gimbell)