Standards to Love: Sultry Summer Sounds
Summer is coming to a close. Before we enter the early stages of the denouement of the year, I want to savor these last few precious weeks. And what better way to do so than with music.
Last year I wrote Bossa Nova Summer Nights highlighting four specific musical collaborations that have not only influenced my musical style preference, but are inherent to my summer listening.
That musical style is Bossa Nova. Quick recap:
Bossa Nova, which translated from the Portuguese means ‘New Wave’ or ‘New Trend’, is a musical fusion of samba and American jazz. The quintessential collaboration of this sound is Getz/Gilberto, an album which I showcase first and foremost in my Bossa Nova Summer Nights post.
This summer, thanks to the streaming app Pandora, I have been able to not only listen to the tried and true classics in the Bossa Nova pantheon, but have been exposed to albums which I have woefully never encountered before from musicians I have held in the highest regard for as long as I can remember.
Today I am sharing old favorites as well as new. I hope that they flavor your last few moments of summer with sultry sexiness. But may this music also usher in the autumn of the year with its inherent peace and joy, too. You can find all the albums and songs discussed in today’s post on Whiskers’ Sultry Summer Sounds playlist.
Antonio Carlos Jobim
When Bossa Nova began it’s undulations, it started small, like all great movements. Similar to the collaboration found in such artistic movements as the Bauhaus, Bossa Nova gathered a nucleus of pivotal players. One was Antonio Carlos Jobim. If you read the Bossa Nova Summer Nights post, you’ll have already encountered this man on the album Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Many of the most notable Bossa Nova hits were composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. One such notable is Girl from Ipanema. Jobim spent much of his childhood growing up in the beachside community of Ipanema. Perhaps that is why so much of the Bossa Nova sound is synonymous with the ocean.
Speaking of the ocean, two of Jobim’s greatest albums are Wave and Tide. If you’re looking for a smooth, languid listening experience, neither of these albums will disappoint. They diffuse a peace into the atmosphere that will mellow and sooth even the most anxious.
Wave and Tide are fixtures within the compendium of Bossa Nova. They are classics within the genre and tried and true favorites within my home.
Now, on to a new favorite.
In 1939, Brazilian composer Ary Barruso composed a song entitled Aquarela do Brasil (Watercolor of Brazil). It was featured and billed as Brazil in the Hollywood film Brazil, which was nominated for its score, also by Barruso. Aquarela do Brasil, most commonly billed as Brazil, was written on a rainy night as Barruso looked out from his window and viewed the country that he loved. It’s a love song, tender and flirtatious and sweetly sincere all at once.
I first heard this song live when Michael Feinstein performed it with the Nashville Symphony at the Schemerhorn. And I absolutely fell in love with it. Since that time, I have been looking for a recording of it that captured the essence of that night for me.
And, dear readers, I have found it. On Antonio Carlos Jobim’s album Stoneflower (which is a new best friend), he records Brazil and it is sublime. But, I won’t stop there. The entire compilation of Stoneflower is a wonderful experience.
Only one song on the album detracts for me and that is God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun. It breaks from the mellifluous ease of the rest. However, taken on its own, it is an excellent piece. So, really, how much does it detract? However, I have left this song off of the Sultry Summer Sounds playlist I have compiled for this post.
Aside from a few sung words on several tracks, all the songs on Jobim’s albums are instrumental. And even when Jobim is singing, his mellow voice lends itself to the orchestra as a unique instrument, too.
This music encourages meditation, deep breaths, the slowing of the soul and spirit. It immerses you in rest, in a quite joyful peace. It possesses insouciance. A carefree quality that promotes the same in the listener.
The perfect libation to serve with this listening party is Leite de Onça. This cocktail is deceptive. Because it looks as mild as a glass of milk, one is apt to forget its potency, which makes it the perfect parallel to Jobim’s music as you see in the Sultry Summer Sounds playlist.
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
When it comes to visionaries, it is impossible to not include Herb Alpert. Regardless of the creative endeavor he tackles, this man brings his passion in a way that facilitates an atmosphere of newness and ingenuity.
Alpert is more than a musician. He is an artist to the core, allowing his innate creativity to express itself within a variety of mediums from music to sculpture to painting to business. Furthermore, he does not horde his giftings, but shares them broadly with those around him. The Herb Alpert Foundation contributes greatly to various educational endeavors to bring the arts into the classrooms of America from elementary to collegiate.
But, today, we’re going to talk about Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It may seem impossible to consider this, but Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass were so massively popular that they outsold the Beatles two to one.
When Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass first began, they maintained a traditional mariachi sound, but as time wore on and Alpert and his colleagues were exposed to a variety of sounds, the music transitioned into a melding of the old and the new. And while it is not Bossa Nova, it is was New Wave of sound the burst through the industry.
I am not a music scholar, nor do I have a handle on the language that describes styles, genres, groupings, and specialities. It leaves me feeling wanting trying to convey the intricacy of this complex music. There is a lot going on. If you feel like taking a musical journey, I highly recommend listening to the unfolding exploration and discovery that occurred from the debut The Lonely Bull through the numerous albums that followed. In The Lonely Bull, Alpert and the Tijuana Brass fully embraced the cultural sounds of Mexico with mariachi infusions and heavy overtones of bull fights. However, as is the way with true creatives, staying there was not an option as their second album showed.
Greatness should never be replicated; rather, it should be a cornerstone upon which new and exciting things are built. Thankfully, the rather lackluster response to their second album galvanized a creative response, South of the Border. In this album, they transitioned away from the mariachi styles into what would ultimately become a hallmark for Alpert and his Tijuana Brass. This album also opened the door to a new listening audience as Alpert selected many popular tracks of the day and arranged them in a fresh, ingenious way which ultimately became another one of his hallmarks.
The album I have enjoyed getting to know more this summer is Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I was familiar with some of the tracks, especially Taste of Honey and Tangerine. I have greatly enjoyed acquiring new favorites such as Bittersweet Samba and Green Peppers. Another aspect of this album that has tickled me is the title of all the different songs and how they play on the idea of flavors, sweet, savory, and other delicacies.
No summer playlist would be complete without the song that encapsulates that smooth, cool sultry summer sound: Herb Alpert’s Rise. This track is the actualization of cool. It’s no wonder that it relaunched Alpert’s career, not to mention transformed the disco sound.
The coolest thing about Herb Alpert is that he is still performing. Well into his 80s, he’s still touring the world with his trumpet, sculpting, painting, and creating things of ingenuity and beauty. In fact, he’s even re-released some of his classics, most notably Whipped Cream and Other Delicacies Rewhipped. Love that sort of cleverness. Listening to his music spurs you on, cultivates a drive within you to push yourself to new creative endeavors. The notes, the rhythms, the melodies will infuse your soul with excitement for the future.
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass demands a Mexican classic. The Tangerine Orange Mezcal Cocktail Recipe is just the thing. These libations are stimulating and refreshing- and anyone of the citrus blends would evoke Tijuana Brass. Each cocktail is refreshing, invigorating, and highly creative. The perfect accompaniment to the Sultry Summer Sounds playlist.
Ramsey Lewis
Now, for something completely new. Before this summer, I had never listened to Ramsey Lewis exclusively. I have seen his name on tracks as a contributor, but I had no idea of the body of his personal work nor of his contribution to the progression of the jazz movement.
Like Herb Alpert, Ramsey Lewis is still performing and striving to discover and cultivate new sounds. He is a legend in his field and has joined the echelons of piano greats such as Thelonias Monk and John Coltrane. It is important in any industry or art form to look to those who have made great strides. It is from these patriarchs (and matriarchs) that we can learn not only technique, but also how passion drives you onward in the face of the life’s challenges.
Now, on to the music. If you want some fantastic music that will make you get up and dance, that will truly energize you, then look no further. In 1967, Ramsey Lewis cut Goin’ Latin with his trio. This album is pure fun. I defy you to listen to it without smiling.
Summer Samba is the perfect cut to play when you just want something infused with utter joy. It could be the perfect song to have on at a party to liven things up or just while you’re cooking in the kitchen.
By far, this album is the largest departure from the traditional Bossa Nova sound. What Ramsey Lewis does with Goin’ Latin is a further evolutionary fusion of the Bossa Nova sounds with that of the then current hot jazz scene in America. Ramsey Lewis’s fingers command the piano keys with the precision and electric charge we’ve come to expect from the jazz era that birthed Monk and Coltrane. Taking that niche of jazz and mingling it with not only Bossa Nova, but traditional and jazz sounds in general, we are left with an album that oozes Louisiana blues, Mexican mariachi, Brazilian Bossa Nova, and American lounge jazz. It was thoroughly modern for its time and still retains that breath of fresh air today. It was the new wave that followed the New Wave of Bossa Nova.
This music exudes vitality. It promotes animated, dynamic movement. It will excite you, body and soul. It stimulates, emboldens, encourages you to reach out for those moments of joy wherever you may find them.
Goin’ Latin, and Ramsey Lewis in general, demands a bold cocktail. As with Sinatra, one with the solid base of whiskey. But, it also wants the lithe and light of fruitiness. That’s why a Scotch Negroni with Maraschino Cherry and Orange Peel is beau ideal. It was invented in Chicago where Ramsey Lewis heralds from, but has the flirtiness and fun of the Latin culture, too. It’s also a marvelous libation to usher in an evening of fun with friends and great music from the Sultry Summer Sounds playlist.
There are more artists that I would love to cover, but I believe this the appropriate place to conclude. The artists, specifically the albums, which I have shared with you today all major on instrumentals. While there may be places where vocals are heard, the overwhelming body of work is instrumental. I would like to keep the Sultry Summer Sounds playlist on YouTube in a single vein and along similar sounds. Which only means that I will have another opportunity to share Sultry Summer Sounds Vocalists with you, perhaps, in the dead of winter when we all could use a little Latin pick-me-up.
