Rio After Dark ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED

Great material on this disk - but it's actually 2 complete albums, and I only realized after I bought it that I already owned one of them.

Great sound!

No doubt released to feed on the topicality of this year’s FIFA World Cup, this combination of two 1962 albums BOSSA NOVA - NEW BRAZILIAN JAZZ and PIANO STRINGS AND BOSSA NOVA is headed by the four Grammy Award winning/ six Oscar nominated Argentinean-born pianist, arranger and conductor, best known for his film and TV scores. For these albums, Schifrin gears his talents towards the jazzy bossa nova genre and as such, it’s wonderful to appreciate O MENINO DESCE O MORRO (LITTLE BROWN BOY), SAMBA DE UMA NOTA SO (ONE NOTE SAMBA) and CHEGA DE SAUDADE (NO MORE BLUES) from the first album’s captivating exploration of a dozen jazzy sambas. The second is laden with an underpinning of strings; bringing the composer’s own LALO’S BOSSA NOVA, THE WAVE, SYLVIA and RIO AFTER DARK as predating his style for future film scores with swirling strings often incorporated into the arrangements. The authentic Brazilian scene is represented by Jobim’s INSENSATEZ and others whilst there’s also a quite striking introduction heading Bernstein’s familiar MARIA and that old chestnut FOUR LEAF CLOVER positively vibrates in its new jazz samba setting. Both albums also employ gifted jazz musicians borrowed from Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra and were no doubt intended to highlight the full advantage of stereophonic separation for the listener with home hi-fi equipment. Fifty years on that still applies and the music, brilliantly performed and presented, is ideal for a relaxing hour’s listening.

Always a pleasure to listen to Lalo.