Walter Wanderley CD: “Rain Forest”

[Mike]

I was doing some record shop hopping last Sunday and picked up a Walter Wanderley CD: “Rain Forest”. It was originally recorded May 16, 17, 1966 and was produced by Creed Taylor.

Track list: Summer Samba, It’s Easy To Say Goodbye, Cried Cried, Rain, The Girl From Ipanema, Beloved Melancholy, Taste Of Sadness, Beach Samba, Call Me, Cry Out Your Sadness, The Great Love, Song Of The Jet

I was browsing in the Brazil section and when I saw the name “Walter Wanderley”, I remembered seeing his name before in a thread here at the forum. The cover billed him as Brazil’s number one organist – how could I pass it up? It’s a good CD, of course it will be a big help to the listener if they appreciate organ music with a Brazilian flair – I sure do!

Anyway, thought I’d share the info with everyone. Have a nice Summer Samba day!

 

[Dave]

I remember buying this CD "Budget-Priced" at, I think, $9.99, one time. First and probably only non-A&M Walter Wanderley I ever bought. And an equally good musical treasure, even on its original vinyl!

"Summer Samba", with words added to it, becomes "So Nice", which I have Andy Williams singing, but Steve Allen doing as instrumental, that could have been left as "Summer Samba"...

I think the organ makes a great Brasilian instrument, in this context, too!


Dave

 

[Rudy]

I was browsing in the Brazil section and when I saw the name “Walter Wanderley”, I remembered seeing his name before in a thread here at the forum. The cover billed him as Brazil’s number one organist – how could I pass it up? It’s a good CD, of course it will be a big help to the listener if they appreciate organ music with a Brazilian flair – I sure do!

He had about six or seven on Verve. "Batucada" is my favorite--I think it even has Dom Um Romao on drums on that one, and it loses the horns. "Cheganca" is good, sort of like a follow-up to "Rain Forest." Still, anything of his on Verve beats the two A&Ms IMHO...I don't listen to those very often. Not blaming A&M, because it was still Creed Taylor who produced all of those albums at Verve too. Really took him out of his element on his later recordings, in the name of artistic growth I guess. (Even "Kee-Ka-Roo" on Verve starts to move toward what he was doing on A&M.) I'd consider the A&Ms an "acquired taste", actually.

One other CD you may really like, if you like "Rain Forest", is the album Wanderley and his trio (Bobby Rosengarden, Claudio Slon) recorded with Astrud Gilberto: A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. They work really well together--Wanderley gets plenty of space for himself in between Astrud's verses. Highlights there are "Tristeza", "Summer Samba" and "Portugese Washerwoman", which the Baja Marimba Band recorded on Watch Out!. (And funny thing was, when I posted the Astrud clip, I don't think anybody here recognized it! )

 

[seashorepiano]

I have three copies of the vinyl and the CD. It's one of my favorite albums and definitely what I'd consider a "desert island" recording. The good vinyl I own I find easier to listen to as there is noticeable tape deterioration audible on tracks 1, 2 and 4 of the CD (as mentioned in small print in the CD Verve By Request liner notes).

I'm not sure if I agree with the statement that Kee-Ka-Roo compares with the A&M albums. Sure, at this point when this last Verve album was recorded, Creed Taylor had left for A&M and Esmond Edwards tried to give Walter a more popular sound by adding Wurlitzer electric piano and some funk/rock touches in tracks like "Kee-Ka-Roo." But that hardly approaches the lush, orchestrated and bossa-pop sound of the A&M albums. When It Was Done and Moondreams have the strings, electric harpsichords, and vocals that the last Verve album lacks. At least Walter played almost all Brazilian strictly-bossa numbers on Kee-Ka-Roo; on the A&Ms, he plays either pop songs from European film tracks ("L'amore dice Ciao"), '70s new wave numbers ("Proton Electron Neutron") or '60s American pop. Just my thoughts on that... I think the A&M Wanderley debate is never-ending, and, as Rudy said, it is DEFINITELY an acquired taste.