Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Joao Donato, Joao Donato  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Joao Donato
Joao Donato
TIP  
USA 1xLP 
Label: Jazz Is Dead
Release Year: 2021
Style: Jazz & Blues
 
  Tracks  
  A1. Não Negue Seu Coracão
A2. Aquarius (Bring Her Back Home)
A3. Desejo de Amor
A4. Forever More
B1. Sua Beleza e Beleza
B2. Liaisons
B3. Adrian, Ali & Gregory
B4. Vermelho Quente
B5. Conexão
 
  Where’s João Donato? It’s a frequently asked question, referring simultaneously to the physical location and the musical moment he inhabits. A sampling of some of his more descriptive song titles suggests Donato’s comfort with musical hybrids: “Bluchanga,” “Sambolero,” and “Sambongo,” to name just a few. Lacking a formal genre for his style of music, Donato’s is a distinct sound, immediately recognizable from the first few bars of any of his compositions. He was funky back when “funk” was a bad word (listen to either of his 1960s Brazilian LPs, Sambou, Sambou and The New Sound if Brasil, for proof). His compositions are deceptively simple, while his arrangements are harmonically complex, revealing their intricate details upon repeat listening.
Today, Donato brings this flavor, now near synonymous with his name, to a new album in the Jazz Is Dead series with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Joao Donato JID007. “Donato is one of the greatest Brazilian composers from that golden era. His signature style, simple melodies combined with colorful chordal progressions, establishes a new lane for Jazz Is Dead,” explains Younge. “Joao is one of the most innovative Brazilian jazz composers of the last century. Creating with and learning from this maestro was one of the greatest experiences of my career.”
On the first day of recording, João Donato was so flattered that to learn Younge and Muhammad had crafted some tunes for him to grace that on the second day, the maestro showed up to the studio with a composition in honor of his new musical partners: “Adrian, Ali and Gregory.” Gregory (aka Greg Paul) delivers an effortlessly buoyant rhythm to support Donato’s whimsical and wistful Fender Rhodes. Younge and Muhammad added the flute melody after the sessions, a perfect tribute and compliment to this master arranger, sweet and melancholic at the same time.
Building off a sinister interlocking drum and bass pattern, Donato, Younge, Muhammad, Paul and vocalist Loren Oden, assemble a swaying and swirling tune with a romantic mantra, “Nao Negue Seu Coraçao,” which translates to “Don’t Deny Your Heart.” Aspirational saxophones dance among cascading monophonic synths, a churning Hammond B3 and cutting fuzz guitar while Donato’s subtle and slinky Fender Rhodes leads the way through the musical maelstrom. Delivered in Portuguese, Loren Oden sings the song’s emotional energy into existence.
If Jon Lucien made a fusion album, it would have sounded something like “Forever More.” Oden’s vocals capture the longing and romanticism of the title, while the rhythm section harkens back to the last album Donato recorded in Los Angeles in 1970, a jazz fusion fore-runner full of pulsing polyrhythms and urgent melodies. “You guys made me like L.A. again,” Donato told Younge and Mohammad towards the end of his 2019 trip to record this album and perform at the Jazz Esta Morto series.
João Donato deserves a place among the legends of Brazilian music, alongside Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, Dorival Caymmi, Ary Barroso, and select few others. Ironically, his constant experimentation with different genres – the very essence of his greatness – make him a challenge to classify and perhaps held him back from becoming the household name some of his peers became. Asked how he would describe his own work, he says, “It’s my style of music, the way I think about [music]. I don’t even think about it, it’s just the way I do things. I don’t know if it even has a name.” Donato has finally received long overdue accolades for his contributions to date. An archetypal “musician’s musician,” Donato’s stepped out of the shadows more recently, recording at an unprecedented rate and collaborating with a variety of musicians, from Brazil and beyond, old and young. Still going strong at over eighty years old, the late praise and recognition is finally coming for the artist who Claus Ogerman offered to arrange an album, who Antonio Carlos Jobim called a genius, and who no other than João Gilberto claims invented the bossa nova beat.
 
      Wish List  
  Price: CHF 35.00   Currently not on stock!
Please check back later or call us for more information:
+41 (0)43 322 02 04
 
  Releases of the same artist  
  No items found ..  
  Releases of the same label  
  Adrian Younge, The American Negro  
Adrian Younge
The American Negro
[Jazz Is Dead]
EUR 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 40.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Instrumentals  
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Instrumentals
[Jazz Is Dead]
EUR 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 41.00 Restocking!
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Brian Jackson, Brian Jackson  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Brian Jackson
Brian Jackson
[Jazz Is Dead]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 35.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Doug Carn, Doug Carn  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Doug Carn
Doug Carn
[Jazz Is Dead]
GER 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 42.00 Restocking!
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Garrett Sara, Garrett Saracho  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Garrett Sara
Garrett Saracho
[Jazz Is Dead]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 35.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Gary Bartz, Gary Bartz  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz
[Jazz Is Dead]
TIP  
EUR 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 35.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Henry Franklyn, Henry Franklin (Ltd. Transparent Blue LP)  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Henry Franklyn
Henry Franklin (Ltd. Transparent Blue LP)
[Jazz Is Dead]
GER 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 37.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Jean Carne, Jean Carne  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Jean Carne
Jean Carne
[Jazz Is Dead]
GBR 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Katalyst, Katalyst  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Katalyst
Katalyst
[Jazz Is Dead]
GER 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Restocking!
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Marcos Valle, Marcos Valle  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Marcos Valle
Marcos Valle
[Jazz Is Dead]
TIP  
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 35.00 Restocking!
 
  Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Phil Ranelin, Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison  
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Phil Ranelin
Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison
[Jazz Is Dead]
EUR 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Azymuth, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Azymuth  
Azymuth
Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Azymuth
[Jazz Is Dead]
USA 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 46.00 Restocking!
 
100% Pure Poison
Windy C 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Ben & The Platano Group
Paris Soul 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Ben and the Tight Squeeze Band
AM Funk / Summer Rest
[Athens Of The North]
Bruno Berle
No Reino Dos Afetos
[Far Out Recordings]
Carl Sherlock Holmes
Investigations No.1 45's Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Coely
Alive
[Top Notch]
Colosseum
Elegy / The Kettle
[Dynamite Cuts]
De La Soul
3 Feet High And Rising
[Chrysalis]
De La Soul
3 Feet High And Rising - Tape
[AOI]
Diamond Cafe
Say You Will
[Potions Music]
Double O's Demingo's
Color One Tear Black
[Symphonical Records]
Earth Wind & Fire
45s Collection
[DYNAMITE CUTS]
El Count Executives
Pot Of Gold
[Symphonical Records]
F.B.I.
F.B.I.'s 45's Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Fatback Band / Dizzy Gillespie
Fatbackin' / Matrix
[Dynamite Cuts]
Frank Strazzeri
After The Rain 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Giallo Point
Blue Keys
[Grilchy Party]
Gianni Brezzo
Soundscapes Vol.1 - Music For Harlequins
[Jakarta Records]
Isabelle Antena
En Cavale
[Numero Group]
John Haycock
Dorian Portrait
[Second Thoughts Records]
Jon Lucien
Mind's Eye 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Larry Young
Turn Off The Lights / People Do Be Funny
[Dynamite Cuts]
Little Caesar & The Euterpeans
It Was Love
[Symphonical Records]
Manu Dibango
African Voodoo
[DIGGERS FACTORY]
Matata
I Feel Funky / Talkin' Talkin'
[Dynamite Cuts]
Port Authority
Bus Stop Blues Pt.1&2
[Dynamite Cuts]
Retrogott & Hulk Hodn
Der Urlaub Hat Nicht Stattgefunden
[ENTBS]
Roy Budd
Black Windmill 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Roy Budd
Diamonds 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Roy Budd
Internecine Project 45s Collection
[Dynamite Cuts]
Running Back Mastermix Presents Various
Wild Pitch Club by Ata & nd_baumecker Pt. II/II
[Running Back]
slowthai
UGLY
[Method records]
Sol Messiah
God Cmplx
[Rhymesayers]
Syl Johnson
Diamonds In The Rough
[Fat Possum Records]
The Button Down Brass
Superstition / Shades of Hades
[DYNAMITE CUTS ]
The Invaders
O Lord
[Symphonical Records]
Weldon Irvine
Mr Clean / Homey
[Dynamite Cuts]
  1. LX72
1994
 
  2. Cloud
Visions
 
  3. Gina Été & Tillmann Ostendarp
Le Bouquet EP
 
  4. Crimeapple
El Cantante
 
  5. Little Caesar & The Euterpeans
It Was Love
 
  6. 100% Pure Poison
Windy C 45s Collection
 
  7. Andreas Hofer
Feuer Auf Dem Dach Der Welt
 
  8. CCO
Oceanic Zones
 
  9. D'Angelo
Voodoo
 
  10. Domi & JD Beck
Not Tight