Search - Joao Donato :: Muito a Vontade

Still Cool After More Than Forty Years

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 02/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some folks think that all Brazilian musicians in the early 1960s who were aspiring to international fame were necessarily playing Bossa Nova. After all, that is how Luiz Bonfa, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and many others came to define Brazilian music to the world at a time when it was a fresh and exotic sound.

But musicians like Eumir Deodato and Joao Donato had other ideas. These men took the swaying rhythms of their homeland and developed a unique form of jazz. Muito a Vontade is a prime example of this. Just one listen will disabuse you of any notion you might have had that Donato was just another bossa nova musician.

The name of the album, which is said to mean that the musician playing is totally relaxed, captures perfectly the mood which the title cut tries to set from the start. The cover art reinforces the buyer's expectation of the kind of music he or she is going to hear. I like it from the first note to the last. Its hard to pin Donato down. If you are unfamiliar with his music, some cuts may remind you of some of Joe Sample's more energetic pieces, but on most of them, Donato's sound is a sound all its own.

The music you hear on this remaster is crystal clear. No muddiness whatsoever, every note stands out. Donato mentions in the liner notes that the album still sounds cool after 40 years. I agree completely. Check this out, you are in for a treat."