Description

To begin: I highly recommend this album. But if you haven't heard it, here's what I recommend you do: after you buy it, but before you put it into your c.d. player, look at the liner notes; read the English translations of the Pablo Neruda poems; then read them out loud; then imagine how you might put these to music, if it were up to you; then listen.

These poems are elegant, direct, sadly reflective of life in their breadth, tapping into an endless reservoir of longing and of love. They demand a similarly elegant, direct, quiet and clean treatment; and that's exactly what Luciana Souza givesmore… them in her original compositions.

Luciana Souza has an incredibly pure alto voice that never strains or cracks, and sounds the same regardless of which register she sings in. I don't know what it is about Brazilian singers, and why they are so able to capture that kind of emotional sound more than their American counterparts (e.g., Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, anyone named Gilberto); but she does it here. And the instrumentation of piano and percussion (which Ms. Souza plays, everything from marimba to conga to snare) is perfect. Not too much, but not little.

Actually, the piano parts by Edward Simon (inspired by Federico Mompou) sound almost classical; I detected a bit of Grieg in "Loneliness", Satie in "Poetry", and Brahms in "Memory". This album is not for jazz purists; but if you like beautiful music that grows on you with each listen, regardless of genre, then this album is for you.

Ms. Souza was voted the #1 "Rising Star" in the 2004 Down Beat poll. She merits that; but on this evidence, she won't be a "rising star" for very long. As I said, highly recommended. RC

Tracks

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Info:

Category:

Music > Albums

Case Type:

CD

Release Type:

Retail

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Luciana Souza - Neruda (2004) Retail CD

Part:

Front

Dimensions:

900 x 900 px

Size:

88 KB

Downloads:

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Uploaded:

Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

25/02/08 by Jazzbro

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