Crazy Samba

Long before Medeski Martin and Wood introduced the great unwashed to the groove of the organ trio, there were 3 guys from Rio who jammed better than anyone - Azymuth. I discovered Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ivan Conti (drums & percussion) in 1980, when I picked up their Outubro album, because I liked the way the Lp cover looked and I saw that Bertrami played synths - how many people buy CD's nowadays because of the art? Anyways, I immediately liked these guys, they really knew how to groove; so, over the years, I've followed them and have tracked down everything they've recorded (I think!). In fact, it was iTunes that made all of their Far Out recordings of the last several years accessible - thank you Steve Jobs! Although I'd be hard-pressed to choose my favorite recording of theirs, 1982's Telecommunication just might be it. The Summer of '82 was hot, I had decided to forego a trip to Europe in order to attend two summer sessions and accelerate my college studies; looking back, I was an idiot for not going to Europe - what the hell was I thinking? So, I busted my ass that summer studying - and listening to music. One of the many great Lp's that I picked up that summer was Telecommunication; by now I had become familiar with Azymuth and really loved that organ, synth, vocoder thing that Jose Roberto Bertrami had going on - but I was totally unprepared for that almost 11 minute opus, 'Last Summer In Rio', I wore out the vinyl playing it over and over. Over the years, I'd put Last Summer on, pour a drink and just close my eyes and think about what is or what might have been - not to mention how many times I've made out to this song (!). I won't go into greater detail (for the sake of embarrassing my kids - they're teenagers, you know), other than to say, this album, and specifically this song truly represents The Soundtrack Of My Life. I'm pleased to report that Azymuth is still going strong after all these years, still releasing cd's, and their complete catalog is available if you look hard enough, most of which you can download at the major mp3 stores. If you've never heard these guys, give them a chance, Telecommunication is a good place start! Listen to 'Last Summer In Rio'.

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