Description
Recorded in New York City in early 1978 but never released, Edison Machado & Boa
Nova captures a pivotal figure in Brazilian music history at the height of his artistic
powers.
Combining North and South American jazz traditions with Machado’s revolutionary
samba innovations, Edison Machado & Boa Nova represents a triumph against the
odds. After facing persecution under Brazil’s military dictatorship and being forced to
sell his drum kit in 1976, Machado found renewed creative purpose in New York with
the Boa Nova ensemble. The resulting album captures the essence of his genius –
sophisticated yet wild, controlled yet daring, leading an ensemble of some of the best
jazz, samba and bossa nova players of the day.
A complex and passionate figure, Machado was notorious for his militant
perfectionism and “attacking” style of drumming. Having spent some years of his
youth in the Brazilian army, musicians often remarked that he played as if he were at
war. But his innovative style, while exhibiting complete control and sophistication,
somehow so often danced right on the edge of chaos and wild abandon.
After making his name in Rio’s legendary Beco das Garrafas (Bottles Alley) in the
1950s and early ’60s, Machado went on to form Bossa Tres – the world’s frst
instrumental bossa nova group. His influence spread internationally through
collaborations with Stan Getz, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton
Nascimento, and Chet Baker, while his 1964 album Edison Machado E Samba
Novo stands as a masterpiece of Brazilian jazz.
At 80 minutes in length, Edison Machado & Boa Nova , the lost 1978 New York
sessions, is a singular achievement in Brazilian jazz. The format itself is a rarity in the
canon. It’s packed full of exceptional technical precision and creative vitality, with
sophisticated arrangements and masterful improvisation from its exceptional sextet
of Brazilian and US musicians: Paulinho Trompete (fugelhorn/ trumpet), Ion Muniz
(tenor saxophone), Steve Sacks (baritone saxophone), Mozar Terra (piano), and
Ricardo dos Santos (double bass).
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