Originally, the show included the 13 piece big band AfroReggae, who cancelled due to some contract problem or another which was a shame. On the plus side, this meant we had more of the ever impressive Mr. Peterson on the decks. Playing his Brazillian set that was even further extended with his trip to Brazil earlier this year (see links below). Ironically, the stand out track is the DJ Nuts find, ‘I Am The Machine’ by Wings (that’s Macca of Lennon/McCartney fame!) DJ Nuts dropped this one on the Ed Motta tour that Gilles was suporting early this year (also see Wychwood and his production of Jazzinho). Mr Brownswood seemed particular at ease tonight and I managed to catch a word with him on the sofa outside the main hall afterwards.

This was sixth night of the tour and he said in anticipation of Jorge, “You’re in for a great night tonight.” Reports of Saturday’s gig at the Roundhouse were as complimentary as reports of Arsenal’s win at the Emirates’ earlier that day (Arsenal fan Peterson took Jorge to see how Gilberto is getting on with the gooners). You could tell he was relaxed as he told me he’d been listening to a lot of Cat Stevens lately. No doubt having his lunch on the spectacularly beautiful (but pricey) Sandbanks must have helped. How lucky to have the opportunity to stroll on the beach with Seu Jorge? I got the strong impression the Mr. P was very impressed with the area. I wonder if there’s a gap in Dorset millionaire playground for the opening of the first in the chain of Sushi GP restaurants? Someone missed a trick on the merch stand as there wasn’t any Brownswood Recordings product (not even a t-shirt) and I’d have liked to have got down to more news of forthcoming Brownswood releases and Worldwide shows, but he had to go as Seu and the band were coming on stage.

If not for circumstances beyond control, we’d have reviewed The Roundhouse gig. The former Chalk Farm train shed is now an exceptional venue (ignoring £3.50 a pint) and the Brazilian cafe in Ferdinand Street must have been particularly busy. The Lighthouse is usually excellent with the sprung flat floor (as at Misty In Roots gig) but I bumped into that master of dubbed out reggae samba Glyn ‘Bigga’ Bush in the crowd and he said “He [Jorge] is going to be great, not sure about the sound.” And to be fair, it wasn’t as clear as it could have been. It wasn’t helped that the female “groupies” lost focus and started chatting amongst themselves.

So that apart, it was a brilliant gig. The five-piece band were the perfect backing to Mr. Jorge. The usual drum and electric bass rhythm section is augmented with a trio of cuica, cavaquinho (Portuguese ukulele) and percussion. From the first, the crowd got the floor bouncing to the samba as the first set was taken from Cru where the ukulele proved to be the highlight on tracks like ‘Tive Razao’ and ‘Sao Gonca’.

Cru had a special simplicity to it, like my favourite ‘Eu Sou Favela’, which was followed with the covers of Bowie tracks of the seventies from The Life Aquatic. Acoustic versions of Bowie tracks were unexpected but Jorge transposed them to something higher, particularly ‘Rebel Rebel’. In fact, Bowie shouldn’t be such a surprise source as there’s a link to his ‘samba rock’ past when he started out in the band Farofa Carioca. And if you wanted to sum up Jorge, the title track of the earlier album Corolina puts a samba smile on your face.

In fact, the whole gig was like a samba in the back yard with all your mates round (and your favourite DJ). The new album, Brasil Amercia is planned for release early next year. Perhaps it’ll be more like his appearance with Forro In The Dark as he’s looking into the links with the US. Whatever he does, it’s now hugely anticipated.

The full band returned to finish off the evening with some more uptempo numbers. We even had an encore with a Mark King style bass solo and a drum solo that was very rock orientated.. Jorge did a speech about how beautiful Brazil is and it’s not as violent as City Of God portrays all the time. He left us with the words “Enjoy this place”. Wise words and it’s easy to see him following Gilberto Gil into Brazilian politics. Either that, or as Mr. Peterson predicts, he’ll be “the next Bob Marley”. Universal stardom beckons as Jorge is as bright as the gold star on his t-shirt.

Links:
www.ethermusic.com
Seu Jorge - Live at Montreux (Eagle Vision) DVD [Recorded July 2005]
www.mrbongo.com
www.musicbeyondmainstream.com
Press: “If you had to nominate someone as the coolest man on the planet, Seu Jorge would be a good candiate”. Peter Culshaw. The Telegraph.
The Roundhouse, London www.roundhouse.org.uk Monday 11th December Amadou & Mariam, K’Nann, Ba Cissoko and guest DJ Rob da Bank (Sunday Best, Bestival, Radio1)
Barraco - The Authentic Brazilian Boteco in London, 4 Ferdinand Place, NW1 8ER www.barracocafe.co.uk

Photo of Seu Jorge by Gerry Hectic