A fitting title for an album lost for more than four decades. Hermeto Pascoal recorded Viajando Com O Som – Travelling with Sound in English – with Grupo Vice Versa in two days at Vice Versa Studios in São Paulo. A reissue from London’s Far Out Recordings landed on Friday.
Don’t be put off by its age. This is a surprisingly crisp recording featuring a host of stand-out performances. We’re lucky to have this piece of Latin music history finally available.
The album features three Pascoal originals: “Dança do Pajé,” “Mavumvavumpefoco” and “Natal.” Side two of the vinyl release is filled with a 26-minute-and-change jam on the traditional Brazilian folk song “Casinha pequenina.”
The playing is faithful to each of those compositions. But it’s clear that the group’s comfort with improvisation took hold as they worked their way through the material. Not surprisingly, this is most obvious on “Casinha pequenina.”
It is an absolute master work; one that belongs in the same sentence as “The Creator Has a Master Plan” and other avant-garde classics.
The full line-up:
- Hermeto Pascoal : Electric Piano, Flute, Voice
- Lelo Nazario : Electric Piano
- Nivaldo Ornelas : Tenor Sax, Flute
- Mauro Senise : Saxophones, Flute
- Raul Mascarenhas : Saxophones, Flute
- Toninho Horta : Guitar
- Zeca Assumpção : Bass
- Zé Eduardo Nazario :
- Drums, Percussion, Voice, Bamboo Harmonic Flute solo on “Natal”
- Aleuda Chaves : Vocals
There are countless examples of the timelessness of improvisational jazz when it’s performed at a high level. Viajando Com O Som deserves a prominent position on that list.