Vinyl LP version also available directly from the label at whatmusic The saxophonist Paulo Moura is one of the few Brasilian musicians of note to be associated with the classic 60s period of bossa nova and Brasilian groove who also had a recording career pre-bossa. In the late 50s Moura was recording in a straight jazz style for the Brasilian RCA label. Both the artwork and the arrangements of his albums had more than a nod towards the West Coast jazz movement that so influenced the early creators of what became the bossa nova in Brasil. These records featured arrangements of jazz standards like 'East of the Sun' and 'Tenderly' by fellow 'jazzophiles' Moacir Santos and Cipo.
Paulo Moura was already a musician of some stature in Brasil by the time that the bossa nova phenomenon occurred, and, as such, was in a prime position to take part in the new experimental groups that were mixing bossa nova with the sound of American jazz from the 60s, such as Os Gatos and Os Catedráticos. Moura played with Sergio Mendes in a group that did exactly that and was part of the famous Cannonball Adderley Sextet in NY. He also played on countless record sessions where there was a need for improvised solos, however short. But Moura's twin loves of jazz and Brasilian popular music (later to be heard in his almost complete transition to a player of folkloric 'choros') reached their apogee in the few recordings that he made for the tiny, but highly influential, Equipe label during the second half of the 1960s.
Of these three jazz recordings as leader, this album 'Paulo Moura Quarteto' is perhaps the rarest and least known. With a band that included the young pianist Wagner Tiso, fresh from Minas Gerais and the group Sambalanço, (later so instrumental in the career of Milton Nascimento) and the drummer Paschoal Meirelles (known to fusion fans as founder of Cama de Gato in the late 70s), Moura is in his element. Taking their cue from popular tunes of the day like Antonio Adolfo's 'Sá Marina' (which enjoyed massive success in the US with the Sergio Mendes version called 'Pretty World') the group show what the sidemen where capable of given a free rein and a willing producer. Forget the countless American tenor player's LPs in a 'bossa nova setting' - the Paulo Moura Quarteto improvise naturally over subtle and organic bossa rhythms that are the real thing!whatmusic June 2002Original liner notes from Equipe EJ 6.
003Long before my first trip to Brasil, I'd written down the name of Paulo Moura in a little notebook that I carried everywhere in which I would write down the names of musicians who had most impressed me and whom I most wanted to meet in person. I can still remember my first contact with his music. It was in Stockholm, in Sweden, just as I was preparing to leave the country. My baggage was already too heavy and I had resolved not to buy any more records. But I couldn't resist the temptation. As I passed in front of a record store I heard a version of 'Blues Walk' - irresistible, animated, happy and full of warmth - in bossa nova time. I went in and bought the album, which had been released under Herbie Mann's name. The American flautist had had the good taste to record with Sergio Mendes and Paulo Moura, amongst others. I was extremely impressed by the personality of these two Brasilian musicians. The saxophone is a marvellous instrument, having as it does, the flexibility to reach in its expression the warmth and subtlety of the human voice. Paulo Moura possesses the necessary love and respect for his sax to allow him to the extract from his instrument the most sonorous beauty. The release of this recording in which Paulo Moura once again proves his musical talents also helps to fill a void in this series of Brasilian recordings.
The music contained in this album shows an artist in possession of a rare ability to develop a style of his own, one that can be immediately identified as such. This is the result of a synthesis of eleme
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