Largely unnoticed, it went on to be named ‘Best Brazilian Vocal Album of the year’.
Here In My Heart by Kenny Rankin went through 1997 largely unheralded, and was almost lost in the shuffle until our buyers for The Brazilian Music Review came across it.
- Review
- Album Track Listing
- Press Release for Kenny Rankin’s Here In My Heart
Review: Here In My Heart – Kenny Rankin
Rankin’s gentle delivery is perfect for these 13 Brazilian titles, and his ballad-like style and delicate control are a perfect match for the Bossa sound, and comparable to the subtle interpretations of Joao Gilberto, but in English instead of Portuguese.
Oscar Castro-Neves produces with lush strings and one of the many highlights of the album is the US debut of Brazilian singer Rosa Passos on “These Eyes” and “Stay.” Both songs feature delectable English/Portuguese duets.
Others by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ivan Lins and Djavan have helped to make this album an easy choice as our selection for Vocal Album of 1997. With special appearances by harmonica master Toots Thielemans and legendary guitarist Luis Bonfa. If you love a soft Brazilian melody, don’t pass this one by.
Recorded principally in Rio de Janeiro, this South American flavored album features Kenny’s signature smooth jazz vocals on songs penned by Brazilian legends Ivan Lins and Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Beatles and others. Includes very special guests Michael Brecker, Oscar Castro-Neves, Rosa Pasos, Ernie Watts and Don Grusin. Pure vocal seduction — the bossa nova way!
Album Listing for Here In My Heart
- A Day In The Life Of A Fool ( Manha de Carnaval)
- Life In The Modern World
- Puzzle Of Hearts
- Those Eyes
- A Lover’s Touch
- Stay
- A Slight Infatuation
- I’ve Just Seen A Face
- This Happy Madness
- Even You & I
- Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Art of Survival
- Here In My Heart
Press Release: Kenny Rankin and his Here In My Heart album
The title of Kenny Rankin’s 1995 Private Music debut Professional Dreamer perfectly captured the essencc of a career spanning over 30 years, writing and singing romantic Pop classics that The New York Times recently described, hardly exaggerating, as heartfelt “musical cloud castles.” The vocalist, whom legendary saxman Stan Getz once called “a horn with a heartbeat” for his playful way with a melody, muses that he’s spent his professional life “acting out my fantasies in song, expressing myself emotionally, using words as a canvas and music as the paint I spread upon it. Music to me is a great gift that has the power to evolve every emotion imaginable.”
Professional Dreamer marked the first time Rankin played with only a jazz trio as accompaniment. His new collection, the decidedly South American flavored Here In My Heart, maintains a simple production around an eclectic, easily percussive set, featuring songs by Brazilian legends Ivan Lins (with English lyrics by Brock Walsh), and Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as a romantic take on The Beatles’ classic, “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” Rankin himself wrote the whimsical title track, and co-wrote the sweet and graceful “A Lover’s Touch,” with famed songwriter Paul Williams.
Recorded principally in Rio De Janeiro, Here In My Heart features the elegant acoustic guitar and arrangement expertise of another Brazilian icon, Oscar Castro-Neves, as well as jazzy performances by saxophonists Michael Brecker, and Ernie Watts along with keyboardist Don Grusin, and guitartst Ricardo Silveira. Also on hand are singers Rosa Passos, who sings in Portuguese as she trades verses with Rankin on her elegant composition, “Stay.” Rankin’s daughters Gena and Chanda add spirited backing vocals to a festive samba reading of “Come Rain Or Come Shine” along with Babel Gilberto and Denise Dumont.
In many ways, the collection pays homage to the acoustic guitar-vocal that became Rankin’s trademark on his albums in the late 60’s and throughout his 70’s heyday. “It was suggested that combining my voice with the nylon strings would take advantage of the sound, and I liked the idea of bringing in subtle Brazilian rhythms,” says Rankin. Because Rankin’s left arm suffered nerve damage in a chiropractic mishap in 1994, album producers, the late Miles “Bud” Goodman and Joel Moss (who engineered and produced the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack), suggested that co-producer Castro-Neves take on the task.
“Having Oscar playing guitar gave me the opportunity to just focus on singing,” recalls Rankin. “I could focus, as I love to, on the lyrics, passion and story. I rarely listen to the music first when I cover an outside composition. Instead, I read the story in the words, transfer the images into my own feelings and like I say, sing the story and tell the song.”
Here In My Heart by Kenny Rankin
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