On June 23, 2023, two new and noteworthy albums will be released. If that is what the rest of the year will be like, it’ll be a good year for Brazilian music. For now, listeners can check out their favorite streaming service and listen to singles already available for the upcoming new albums by Nanny Assis and Antonio Adolfo.
Rovanio: The Music of Nanny Assis is a collection of ten tracks covering a wide range of beautiful Brazilian jazz music and smooth vocals. Nine of the ten tracks are co-written by Assis (born in Salvador, Bahia, August 25, 1969). The only track he did not write is the classic Black Orpheus song “Manhã de Carnaval” (by Luiz Bonfá & Antônio Maria). This album is the result of Nanny Assis‘ collaboration with twenty renowned jazz artists and the St. Petersburg Studio Orchestra (featured on three tracks). Among the jazz artists, you will hear performances by Randy Brecker, Vinícius Cantuária, Ron Carter, Fred Hersch, Chico Pinheiro, and Janis Siegel, among others.
MúsicaBrasileira.org readers should be familiar with Assis’ previous works. The singer, songwriter, guitarist, and percussionist has appeared with Arthur Lipner in the fascinating 2012 Brasilian Vibes CD. More recently, in 2015, Assis joined with John di Martino and Janis Siegel to bring us Requinte Trio’s Honey & Air, a very refined and classy album. As a soloist, Assis’ previous album was Double Rainbow (2006), a collection of Brazilian music classics. With Rovanio (that’s Assis’ real first name), listeners will hear Assis’ impeccable vocals bringing to life what Brazilian music offers. He says that being Brazilian is the essence of the “many different styles and roots” in his music. His music is part of the Brazilian culture. His voice and music are the instruments that blend it all together.
Whether with haunting ballads such as the opener “No Agora,” featuring a sensuous flugelhorn solo by Randy Brecker, and the raw lyrics of “Proponho,” with Assis and Siegel backed only by Hersch’s piano accompaniment, this album is multi-layered to please all listeners of Brazilian music. A jazzy “Human Kind” and bouncy “Back to Bahia” add more excitement to these beautiful arrangements created by Assis, Pinheiro, and Hersch. Rovanio: The Music of Nanny Assis exudes good music, rhythms, and vocals to keep you listening to the album over and over.
The other release to add to your summer listening pleasure comes from the hands and mind of Antonio Adolfo. With a career spanning nearly 60 years and over 25 albums, Antonio Adolfo is a mainstay in Brazilian music. This new album, Bossa 65: Celebrating Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal, pays tribute to two giants in the Bossa Nova era, Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menesacal. Cool as a pleasant summer’s eve, Bossa 65 needs no introduction for these ten wonderful tracks. This is part of the soundtrack that helped shape what became known worldwide as Bossa Nova. I have said here time and time again that no other arranger and performer in Brazilian music is able to record old standards in a completely new sound. Adolfo delivers it all with a master’s expertise.
Bossa 65 comes out on June 23, 2023, and you can already hear the album’s opening track, “Coisa Mais Linda,” in all streaming services. As in previous albums, Adolfo produced and arranged all music we hear. He is also surrounded by a class-act team of instrumentalists: Lula Galvão (guitars), Jorge Helder (double bass), Rafael Barata (drums & percussion), Jessé Sadoc (trumpet & flugelhorn), Danilo Sinna (alto sax), Marcelo Martins (tenor sax & alto flute), Rafael Rocha (trombone), and Dadá Costa (percussion).
Although the music we hear all have unforgettable lyrics, Bossa 65 is all instrumental — except for some brief scat vocals Adolfo does in the opening track. There is something to say about Adolfo’s marvelous arrangements. He is capable to use the skills and expertise of all guest musicians to create a typical scene one would find in the famous Beco das Garrafas area in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s. In particular, the brass solos are elegant and alluring. You will be blown away when you hear “Samba do Carioca” and “Bye Bye Brazil,” for example. In “Rio” and “Nós e o Mar,” you may as well close your eyes and imagine sailing on Guanabara Bay. Bossa 65 goes beyond a well-deserving tribute to two giants of Bossa Nova. The album ingeniously brings an era to our present day. It cannot get any better than that!
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