Please note this is an old page and Fly Global Music has now moved. Please follow this link and search for the entry in the new site.

Nicola Conte knows his Latin jazz, whether it be on his own album Rituals from earlier this year or the first Viagem compilation that was released on Far Out lasat year.

For those with sharp eye-sight, you’ll spot that the album cover on the man clutching his treauswer trove of albums in Rio is that of Visions Of Dawn by Joyce, Nana Vasconcelos and Mauricio Mastro but this album leans more to Tenorio Jr. bossa jazz than psych-folk samba.

Conte digs deep into his collection of “Lost Classics of 60’s Popular Brazilian Music” and finds some super rare bossa nova and samba jazz. Viagem 2 is made up of 18 tracks that goes from the extremes of Brazilain ‘pop’ like Bobby Mckay’s ‘Bossa Nova’ (sung in English) and Zil Rozendo’s ‘Balanço Do Mar’.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it needs a few more listens but even I’d have to admit, the lounge-piano jazz tunes that sound a bit cliched now, were cutting edge at the time and it’s true that even if people did play like this, they wouldn’t be realising it. Case in point would be the closing track Dick Farney E Sua Orchestra ‘Ninguém Na Rua’ which sounds like it should be on a 60s film soundtrack.

Even Tenório JR’s ‘Sambinha’, but not to worry as you need this album for his other track here, ‘Consolação’. You may recall Tenório Jr’s ‘Nebulosa’ opened the last Viagem album and there’s a couple more tracks on this one for those Gilles Peterson jazz-dance types including the opener vocal version ‘Sambinha’, As Meninas’ ‘Redondo Sambão’ and José Roberto Bertrami’s ‘Kébar’ (not forgetting his lastest album Aventura that only came out a couple of months ago).

And whilst on the subject, Manfredo Fest’s ‘Jungle Kitten’ is rare enough but what of Márcia Com Manfredo Fest Trio’s ‘Miss Bikini’? Or Sansa Trio’s ’ Bossa Só’?

Other highlights include Maria Lucia ‘Maria Moita’ and the big brass sound of Cláudia’s ‘Deixa O Morro Cantar’ whilst the vocal is apparently about a girl singing sad songs from the mountains. As as this is Brazil, Flora (Pereira da Silva) is better known as a soap-character!

If you’re MPB is just Cesar Roldão Vieira, don’t worry as Nicola’s Conte has dug deeper than deep and now the summer is officially here, this is an essential as a bikini bottom and a Campari and soda; you’ll love it as you balanço do mar.

Reviewed: Various Artists - Nicola Conte Presents Viagem 2 (Far Out Recordings) Cat. No: FARO 140CD Release date: 1st June 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Vera - Sambinha (3:09)
2 Cláudia - Deixa O Morro Cantar (2:28)
3 Janinha - Amanhã (2:35)
4 Maria Lucia - Maria Moita (1:35)
5 Flora - Maria Fulô (2:29)
6 As Meninas - Redondo Sambão (2:21)
7 Tenório JR - Consolação (2:26)
8 Tema Três - Yema Três (2:27)
9 Anamaria Bom - Queimada (2:46)
10 Márcia Com Manfredo Fest Trio - Miss Bikini (1:51)
11 Lygia - Se A Tristeza Chegar (2:29)
12 José Roberto Bertrami - Kébar (3:19)
13 Cesar Roldão Vieira - Sem Deus A Família (1:59)
14 Sansa Trio - Bossa Só (2:30)
15 Bobby Mckay - Bossa Nova (1:50)
16 Zil Rozendo - Balanço Do Mar (2:17)
17 Tenório JR - Sambinha (2:45)
18 Dick Farney E Sua Orchestra - Ninguém Na Rua (3:18)

Links :
nicolaconte.it
myspace.com/nicolacontetheofficialspace
faroutrecordings.com
myspace.com/faroutrecordings