1. Nana
2. Canto De Ossanha
3. Water Buffalo
4. Dr. Honoris Causa
5. Festival
6. Crystal Silence
7. Chants to Burn
Raul De Souza - Trombone
Cannonball Adderley - Alto sax (tracks 2, 7)
Snooky Young, Oscar Brashear - Trumpets, flugelhorns (tracks 1, 2, 4-7)
Jerome Richardson, Sahib Shihab - Reeds (tracks 1, 2, 4-7)
George Bohanon, Don Waldrop - Trombones, baritone horns (tracks 1, 2, 4-7)
Ted Lo - Keyboards
Richard Davis - Bass
Jack DeJohnette - Drums
Kenneth Nash - Percussion
Recorded in 1974, this is one of the few available albums made by Brazilian trombonist Raul De Souza, who had his days of glory in the seventies and eighties and then sank into obscurity. He worked for Sergio Mendes and various other groups from 1964, eventually playing in Airto Moreira's band, Fingers. Airto acted as producer for the album Colors and assembled a starry line-up to accompany Raul, including trombonist J. J. Johnson, who arranged and conducted the horns for the session.
Raul was able to combine jazz-rock with the rhythms of Brazil, and Airto sets him against a busy background of interleaving horns, keyboards and percussion. Airto was among the percussionists (disguised for copyright reasons as "Kenneth Nash and others"). Perhaps Airto was too lavish with the backings, as Raul emerges as just one musician in a complex tapestry which often sounds overloaded. Even Cannonball Adderley, who guests on two tracks, is almost submerged in the mix. Raul is heard at his best in Baden Powell's well-known Canto de Ossanha and in Joe Zawinul's Dr Honoris Causa. He certainly played the trombone with a mixture of fire and tranquillity - the latter most notably in Chick Corea's Crystal Silence, which develops into a passionate tour de force.
After he recorded this album, Raul De Souza had successful collaborations with the likes of Cal Tjader, Sonny Rollins and George Duke but his career took a downward turn when Raul moved to Sao Paulo and then Rio. So this CD marks one of the highspots of a roller-coaster career which sadly fizzled out.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
BGP CDBGPM 239
