1. Samba Blim (Tamanco no Samba) (Orlandivo Honório de Souza/Helton Menezes)
  2. Watch What Happens (Michel Legrand/Norman Gimbel/Jacques Demy)
  3. Weekend (Luiz Eça)
  4. Palladium (Orlandivo Honório de Souza/Ed Lincoln)
  5. Quietly (Ohana/Dorio/Luiz Eça)
  6. Know It All (Quem Diz Que Sabe) (João Donato/Paulo Sergio Valle)
  7. Reza (Laia Ladaia) (Edu Lobo/Ruy Guerra)
  8. Tristeza De Nos Dois (Sad For Both of Us) (Adalberto José de Castilho e Souza/Mauricio Einhorn/Durval Ferreira)
  9. San Salvador (São Salvador) (Aglaê/Durval Ferreira)
  10. Slick (Herb Alpert/John Pisano)
  11. Baiano (Alcyvando Luz)
  12. Pregão (Carlos Diegues/Sérgio Ricardo)

Adalberto José de Castilho e Souza (Bebeto) – flute, vocals
Luiz Eça – piano, vocals
Dorio Ferreira (Dorio) – guitar, bass, percussion, vocals
Rubens Ohana (Ohana) – drums, conga, Afuche/Cabasa, vocals

Tracks 02, 05 & 08, add:
Emanuel Green, David Nadien, Matthew Raimondi, Tosha Samaroff, Gino Louis Sambuco,
              Julius Schacter, Jack Zayde, Joseph Zwilich – violin
Alfred Brown, Harold Coletta, David Mankovitz, Emanuel Vardi – viola
Charles McCracken, George Ricci – cello

Produced by Creed Taylor

String arrangements by Luiz Eça (02, 05, 08)

Originally issued as A&M SP 3013

Recorded on August 7 (09, 10, 12), 8 (01, 06, 07) and 13 (02-05, 08, 11), 1968, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

01 published by Bendig Music Corp./Osito Music Publishing (BMI)
02 published by New Thunder Music Co./Universal Songs of Polygram International Inc. (BMI)
03 and 05 published by Polara Music (ASCAP)
04, 11 and 12 published by Osito Music Publishing (BMI)
06 published by Little A Music/Tijuca Music Co./Unichappell Music, Inc. (BMI)
07 published by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMI)
08 published by Rightsong Music, Inc. (BMI)
09 published by Group 88 Music (ASCAP)
10 published by Almo Music Corporation (ASCAP)

(P) 1968

While there is a sense of the measure and concession to a closely-followed recipe about Samba Blim, it is by no means the artistic failure such a bargain might suggest. Creed Taylor’s meticulous production melds perfectly here with this enormously creative Brazilian group to forge a recording that should have reached a much wider audience than it did. The program and performance here are markedly different from the group’s first A&M/CTI program, We and the Sea. The tracks are shorter (no doubt for radio airplay) and the freer exploits seem considerably more tamed. As a result, it is a stronger album than its predecessor and yields numerous pleasures worth exploring.

The fetching program leans heavily (and appropriately) toward first-rate Brazilian numbers. Kicking it all off is the inviting “Samba Blim,”1 one of two Orlan(n) Divo tunes on the album, a popular Brazilian tune that dates back to a 1959 song otherwise known as “Tamanco no Samba.” Eça’s rhythmic support on piano recalls Herbie Hancock, while Bebeto unleashes a particularly fine and fiery flute solo like nothing in the Herbie Mann or Hubert Laws playbook.

Another popular Brazilian piece that found American success as well, Edu Lobo’s familiar “Reza” (a.k.a. “Laia Ladaia”)2 gets an ambitiously sped-up reading that plays to all of the Tamba’s musical and collaborative strengths (the Tamba Trio played behind Lobo’s 1965 recording of the song). Divo and Ed Lincoln’s “Palladium” is a fine feature for Bebeto’s flute and Dorio’s percussion arsenal, while the lovely “San Salvador” (a.k.a. “São Salvador” – also originally debuted by Ed Lincoln) provides nice spots for Bebeto and Eça to shine. João Donato’s “Know It All” (a.k.a. “Quem Diz Que Sabe”), earlier covered by Wes Montgomery on Down Here on the Ground, elicits an especially rousing performance – driven by the group’s near-magical intuition and musical affinity for one another.

The exquisite “Baiano” is particular standout, showcasing Dorio’s guitar, Eça’s lithe Hancock-like solo and the quartet’s proto-Earth, Wind & Fire background vocals. The tune itself is by the little-known Brazilian multi-instrumentalist and composer Alcyvando (also Alcivando) Luz (1937-98), who is better known for his “É Preciso Perdoar,” later popularized by Stan Getz and Grover Washington, Jr.

Guitarist, vocalist and composer Sérgio Ricardo’s “Pregão,” previously featured on the Tamba Trio’s 1964 album Tempo, champions the group’s superb interplay and ability to make hay with harmonically-rich melodies. Again, Eça is ethereal here. Michel Legrand’s “Watch What Happens” – covered earlier on the label by Wes Montgomery on A Day in the Life – gets a warm reception by the quartet. It is the first of three tunes in which Eça adds a 16-piece string section. The addition gives the Jobim-esque performance a subtle yet stirring setting reminiscent of Claus Ogerman.

Like the earlier “Dolphin,” Eça’s lively “Weekend,” one of three group originals here, deserves to be much better known than it is. “Quietly,” credited to Ohana, Dorio and Eça, evokes “Corcovado” in its tender nocturnal dreaminess while Bebeto’s “Tristeza de Nos Dos” (Sadness of Us Two) has a melancholy soundtrack feel, pulsed neatly by the pianist’s fine solo, an alluring demonstration cleverly mixing abandon and restraint.

The near-funk of “Slick,” first heard on Herb Alpert’s The Beat of the Brass, is suitably samba-fied here in a performance that more than lives up to its title. While probably meant to pay some rent, the Tamba 4 actually pays the Tijuana Brass song dividends with their terrifically simpatico take on the tune.

About the cover: “Umbrella Trees” (1962 – Italy). This photo is a double exposure of Mediterranean stone pine trees, taken just outside Rome on the road to Ostia. It is a composite of two photos that suggests either a forest of odd shadows or a mysteriously animated wood. The lyrical quality of the trees is balanced by Turner’s fiery saturation and beautifully matches the music heard on the Tamba 4’s second A&M/CTI album. The group’s back-sleeve photo is a variation of the group shot on We and the Sea (likely from the same photo session), differing here by splashes of red and green tints to the faces and a streak of yellow on the hands.

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Endnotes:

  1. Interestingly, two songs from Samba Blim, the title track and “San Salvador,” also appeared on a 1966 album titled No Embalo do Samba by one Mike Falcão – a pseudonym for none other than Brazilian Hammond organ legend and A&M/CTI recording artist Walter Wanderley. ↩︎
  2. Like “Tamanco no Samba,” “Reza” was widely covered in Brazil. Coincidentally, both songs were featured on Trio 3D’s 1965 album O Trio 3-D Convida, arranged by Eumir Deodato. However, “Reza” found popularity in the United States with jazz covers by Bud Shank, Hugh Masekela, Charlie Byrd and Elvin Jones as well as pop covers by Vikki Carr, Miriam Makeba and Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66. The easy-listening maestro Percy Faith also recorded two terrific versions of the song on the 1966 album Bim! Bam!! Boom!!! and the 1971’s Black Magic Woman. ↩︎