Looking for a really great Brazilian acoustic guitar album? You’re in luck with this CD – an import which has found a strong following here since its US release a few years ago.
Ulisses Rocha is probably not a name you’d associate with Brazil’s great guitarists. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing the praises of his Moleque CD to your friends, just as Oscar Castro-Neves, Gal Costa and Eliane Elias have in recent years. As overnight sensations go, for Rocha the night has passed swiftly.
‘Moleque’ is one of only a very small handful of releases from this famous musician that has made its way to the US and it impresses from the very beginning. Accompanied only by bassist Pedro Ivo and percussion master João Parahyba, Rocha’s nylon stringed guitar launches into a bluesy, exuberant read of Jobim’s ‘Agua de Beber’ ‘Water To Drink’: Its one of our favorite versions. Want some insight? Think about the feeling you get when you recall Ramsey Lewis’s ‘In Crowd’ while you listen to the audio clip above. It has that kind of pulse.
Rocha’s classical training matches his musical maturity with an ability to anticipate melodic development, making solo tracks like ‘Nós e as Horas’ (We and the Hours) a enveloping experience: “It was written in one of those moments where life seems to hover above itself.” Rocha reflected. Later, he changed the arrangement, “giving it a delicate balance between depth and lightness.”
Standards like ‘Ponteio’ and ‘Bye Bye Brasil’ showcase an unmistakable style that turns each phrase with emotional eloquence, while ‘Certas Coisas’ (Certain Things) is reflective and passionate in that relaxed Brazilian way we’ve come to understand better with our hearts than with our heads.
In the creative and ever more competitive arena of great guitarists, perhaps that’ distinction belongs to Ulisses Rocha as well.
