Carolina

Tracks

1 - Passarim (Little Bird) [Pah-ssa-reem]– Antonio Carlos Jobim 5:42
2 - 1x0 (One to Zero) [Uhm-ah-zehroh]– Pixinguinha, Benedito Lacerda, Nelson Angelo 3:57
3 - Senhoras do Amazonas (Ladies from the Amazon) [Seh-nhoh-rahs-du-ah-mah-zonas] - Joao Bosco, Belchior 4:36
4 - Hello, Goodbye – by John Lennon, Paul McCartney 3:55
5 - Avião (Airplane) [Ah-vee-ohn] – Djavan 4:04
6 - Fragile – Sting 4:47
7 - A felicidade (Joy/Happiness) [Ah-feh-lee-cee-dah-gee]- Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes 4:08
8 - Olha, Maria (Hey, Maria) [Oh-lha- Mah-ree-ah] - Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque, Vinicius de Moraes 5:41
9 - Faltando um pedaço * (Missing a Piece) [Phaal-tan-dough-oon-peh-dah-soh] – Djavan 4:55
10 - Zanzibar – by Edu Lobo 3:54

Personnel

Vocal: Carol Saboya
Piano: Antonio Adolfo
Flute, Alto flute and Soprano sax: Marcelo Martins
Guitars: Leo Amuedo
Double bass: Jorge Helder
Drums: Rafael Barata
Percussion: Andre Siqueira and Rafael Barata

* Obs.: Faltando um pedaço: Claudio Spiewak (acoustic guitar)

Production and arrangements: Antonio Adolfo/ Recording Engineer: Roger Freret/ Second Engineer: Ricardo Dias (Visom Digital Studio– Rio - BR)/Mixing Engineer: Claudio Spiewak (C L Audio – Florida - US)/ Mastering Engineer: André Dias (Post Modern Mastering - Rio – BR)/Cover Design: Felipe Taborda/ Cover Photo: Alessandro Nunes/ Make Up: Nilton Matos / Special Thanks: Ron Weber, Gabe O’Meara, Jairo Severiano, Henrique Cazes © Copyright by Antonio Adolfo Music. All rights reserved.

About

Additional text:
Since 2012, Carol Saboya was waiting the right moment to release one album by her, totally Carol Saboya. In the meantime, she has recorded an album which was a Project, the CD “Copa Village" that was released in the beginning of 2015, developed together with Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica) and Antonio Adolfo (piano) and a small group of musicians (bass, drums, guitar and percussion).
So this new album, entitled ‘Carolina", has been formatted for more than one year and the idea was having Carol interpret a selection of great material by masters from Brazilian and classic pop music composers (Sting, Lennon and McCartney).
The time spent to select these “oeuvres" was the longest, since it had been conceived. As we know, one of the most important items in an album production is the repertoire. And all that was been worked with the dedication (participation) of Antonio and Carol.
After that (music selection), it was time to conceive the sound and atmosphere of the arrangements. And we have done that with a certain easy way, since one knows very well each other musically. Carol has asked Antonio to count on the same musicians that normally record his albums and have recorded her latest one “Belezas – the music of Ivan Lins and Milton Nascimento", a very well received album by press and airplay, released in 2012.
The easiest and not less important were the record sessions that, as any nice Jazz album, came in 5 sections; two for basic tracks, one for percussion and two for vocals.
It is very easy to record with Carol due to her professional posture, musical interpretation (including perfect pitch, interpretation of music and lyrics, subtle but powerful voice, etc, etc…
So, from the repertoire we have Passarim (little bird), by ACJ (Antonio Carlos Jobim), released in the late 90’s on an album with the same title. For that tune, a typical Bossa, AA arranged it in a more jazzy style, differently from the original version which includes string intermezzos. Therefore the song became more fluent, including a nice solos by the excellent guitarist Leo Amuedo and flutist Marcelo Martins.
Following that ouverture, it comes a classic by Pixinguinha (1 X 0), an original instrumental “Choro" written by the great and immortal Pixinguinha in 1919, after a football (soccer) game between Brazil and Uruguay, when Brazil won the game at the last minute by 1 X 0. That song gained lyrics by Nelson Angelo by the occasion of the 2014 Soccer World Cup. It is very difficult to sing and requires a deep technique besides swing from the vocalist. And Carol did it very well. The arrangement gains more strength as the song develops through an incredible accelerating in tempo throughout it.
Senhoras do Amazonas is one of the most beautiful songs by the great Joao Bosco, here with Brazilian lyrics by another great composer, Belchior, can also be considered as one of the most beautiful in the album. The lyrics tells about the Ladies from The Amazon, with all that tropical atmosphere, mentioning words typical from that region. Nice solo by the great guitarist - here on acoustic – Leo Amuedo and a nice rhythmic atmosphere inspired on the sounds from the Amazon.
Then comes the firs Pop classic tune Hello Goodbye, this one by Lennon and +McCartney. The word games between two people – one say YES, the other says NO, etc….AA has written an arrangement that made deep changes in the form and structure of the original, transforming it in a Bossa, with some odd meters here and there….New melodies lines and harmonies where added in between spaces of the main melody. A wonderful flute solo by MM.
Avião, by Brazilian composer Djavan. Here is a great song by a great composer who received the Lifetime Achievement this year from the Latin Grammy. This song, a very live Bossa/Samba gives the chance to Carol to show her swinging vocal abilities. Supported by a substantial percussion session performed by the great Andre Siqueira and Rafael Barata, the arrangement develops by half steps till the latest key where we can hear again a great flute solo by Martins – what a great musician!!! The song is full of that Brazilian typical groove found in sambas. Very lively. A great performance by Carol.
Fragile is a classic pop tune by the great singer/composer Sting. Here on the album, the arrangement concept went through the delicate Bossa feel to say words which deeply describe the meaning of the lyrics. Marcelo performs on alto flute on this very beautiful song. Carol performs floating, helped by the also delicate rhythm section performed by bassist Jorge Helder and drummer Rafael Barata.
A Felicidade, the classic by ACJ and Vinicius de Moraes from the Black Orpheus starts with Carol singing the chorus a cappella. Then comes only piano accompanying her sing a big portion of the melody. When she sings “pra tudo se acabar na quarta-feira – and then everything ends on ash Wednesday (Carnaval)" comes the percussion as calling her and bringing her to the Carnaval atmosphere. So from there we go to a nice Bossa, with brushes played by Barata and the trio (quartet?) accompanying until the end, when she keeps repeating the chorus accompanied by just the drumset. It is a very different arrangement for this so many times recorded song.
Olha, Maria was also composed by ACJ, Vinicius de Moraes and , this time, lyrics also by Chico Buarque talks about an imaginary Maria which can represent any beauty or any great thing happening, but Maria wants to leave. And all promises are made for Maria to stay. This song has a very exquisite sequence of chords. It is a real state of art piece. A great solo , again by MM but, a this time on soprano conducting the 6/8 time signature song. Subtle percussion and rhythm section accompanies an extremely beautiful melody interpreted by Carol Saboya.
Faltando um Pedaço, another great, this time lyrical, slow tempo tune, by Djavan is basically interpreted by Carol accompanied by AA’s piano. A very subtle acoustic guitar played by Claudio Spiewak and a “moringa" (percussion instrument) subtly played by Rafael Barata complement the accompaniment. The lyrics talk about the different faces of love and the sadness when it goes away.
Zanzibar – a classic instrumental tune by Brazilian great Edu Lobo is the last tune on the album. A very live “Baião" in its original key (D minor), places Carol’s vocal as an instrument that sometimes is in the session with the other musicians, some times, just herself conducting so great semi modal melody. A great solo by guitarist Leo Amuedo shows in a very appropriate moment, accompanied by the entire group where, percussion plays an very important role, not to mention the entire group itself.