Here is a man that lives music. Here is a man who contributed so much to contemporary Brazilian music, from samba to bossa nova to MPB. He’s up there with the greats like Caetano Veloso and Elis Regina and Sérgio Mendes. What he gave to Brazilian and world music, from the epic Brazil ’66 and Samba’68 albums to immortal songs like So Nice (Summer Samba) and Os Grilos (Crickets Sing for Anamaria), is too much to be described in a short blog posts but there are other outlets where one can get a true sense of Marcos Valle. He has been a prolific singer, songwriter, and producer since the early 60s but between the late 80s and late 90s he didn’t put out a single record, until he was rediscovered by enterprising DJs in London and Tokyo and remixed with contemporary sounds like electronica and electro-jazz. Since then, he has reawakened and is currently experiencing a renaissance of sorts. The first album that he recorded on the cusp of this new century was aptly named Nova Bossa Nova and signaled his embrace of loungey, jazzy contemporary bossa nova styles. It was in this style that Água de Côco, featured in his Contrasts CD (2003), was made. It is one of the most played songs on my iPod and one of my favorite songs of all time. Selva de Pedra and Posto 9 are two other great songs from another one of his renaissance CDs titled Jet Samba (2005). They are both instrumental and invoke images of Ipanema Beach, for which Posto 9 is named. With a cold Caipirinha and Marcos Valle on your stereo, life is good.

Água de Côco
Selva de Pedra
Posto 9

-Photo by Tani07