Tamba 4 "California Soul" LP coming for Black Friday

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typecrazy789

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From reissue co-producer Zev Feldman's Facebook page:

IT'S TAMBA TIME for BLACK FRIDAY!

Back in 2015, my good friend DJ Greg Caz told me about this long-lost studio album by the legendary Brazilian jazz-bossa group TAMBA 4. I've known Greg for nearly 25 years, going back to the good old days when he was writing for High Times and working at Tower Records in Greenwich Village. Considering Greg is one of the most knowledgeable music guys I know and my being a big fan of Brazilian music, I was immediately struck with intrigue and wanted to track down this album that had been sitting in the vaults for the past 50 years. It seemed like a creative and fun opportunity to celebrate a period in the music from a bygone era, not to mention the fact that it was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his studio in New Jersey and was produced by the legendary Creed Taylor for A&M/CTI. With the help of our friend Harry Weinger we were able to uncover the tapes in the UMG vaults.

Once we had the tape, I knew I wanted a striking and evocative album cover that would have the same look and feel as those classic CTI covers of the 60's. My über-talented designer John Sellards extensively researched the archives of the iconic photographer Pete Turner, whose photographs have graced many a classic CTI album cover, to come up with just the right shot. Then invoking the spirit of the great art director Sam Antupit, we were able to re-imagine what the cover would have looked like back in 1969.

The music on the album features arrangements by the renowned arranger Johnny Pate, and kicks off with the title track "California Soul" penned by Motown legends Ashford & Simpson and made popular by the Fifth Dimension and Marlena Shaw.

I want to give my sincere thanks to Harry Weinger, Gene Zacharewicz and Paul Hall at Universal Music Enterprises and everyone at Elemental Music for putting this record out. Thanks to Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton at Record Store Day for their continued support too! Limited-edition of 1,500 180g LP copies, sound restoration and mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, LLC and pressed by Memphis Record Pressing. More info at www.elemental-music.com

 
Rudy

Rudy

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Paging @RichardWarner .

A shame it's going to be part of Record Store Day though. I am strongly against the money grab that occurs during these RSD sales, including the hype and false exclusivity claims. Hopefully there will still be some left a few months after the greed-rush happens, as the work by Kevin Gray on this title would be worth hearing. If there's a high-res digital version, I would get that instead, as I don't care to directly support RSD.
 
Bobberman

Bobberman

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If they release it in digital form or CD I'm Totally in I have "We And the Sea" and I love it. I would love to hear this long lost sequel. We will see what happens
 
Rudy

Rudy

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Michael Hagerty said:
If they'd released it with that cover, Tamba 4 would have gone Top 20.
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No doubt! :D I have to admit that is a Pete Turner photo I've never seen before.

Bobberman said:
If they release it in digital form or CD I'm Totally in I have "We And the Sea" and I love it. I would love to hear this long lost sequel. We will see what happens
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We and The Sea is probably the best of their work as Tamba 4, as (despite what so-called experts are saying elsewhere), the album is partly recorded in mono elsewhere, with some muddy overdubbed guitar (probably at Van Gelder's), on the best tracks. It's easy to tell, since the muddy sounding tracks ("Moça Flor," "Iemanja," the title track and "Dolphin") are the typical sound they were getting at Van Gelder's for the rest of these CTi albums, and have none of the energy of the other three tracks (where the group actually sounds like itself)--these exact arrangements on the three remaining tracks were recorded elsewhere before Creed Taylor worked with the group. I am not as fond of Samba Blim as the CTi touch was too heavy--all the tracks are short and not exploratory like the previous album, or their work prior to Tamba 4. Their instrumental talents are pretty much subdued, in other words, and they sound more like a lounge act. Tamba Trio was not a covers band, yet that is what they were doing as Tamba 4 on Samba Blim. Listening to the Tamba Trio records is where you can really hear what these musicians were all about. Great music, and it was more influential in Brazil than we have been led to believe--they were a big part of the Bossa Nova movement but never really did much here in the US.

From the listing I saw, it is getting a release only on vinyl as part of the dysfunctional Record Store Day event. But, we'll see. Releasing this digitally costs the label very little. Maybe interest in the record will get them to release it digitally (if they haven't already planned it). I'll wait a few months--by then, there will be unsold copies and the remaining dealers with stock will have them priced where they should be. I've purchased a few former RSD titles under $18 that originally sold for $25-$30. Shows you how much price gouging goes on during RSD, and how gullible some vinyl buyers are for putting up with such a money grab.
 
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