It's Brit Bossa 2!

[IAN]

Well it's been almost 5 years and I need something to cheer myself up (and hopefully you all too...) so here's BRIT BOSSA 2!






BRIT BOSSA 2 (download the whole thing here)

Ok, first off - any Bossa purists out there remember this is British produced. Go easy on us, we were trying our best...



01 Alan Moorhouse Orchestra - Soul Bossa (Columbia 45 1970)

Let's kick off with something from Alan Moorhouse, this is the B side to the Theme From 'The Man Who Haunted Himself'.



02 Tom Springfield - Estrada do Sol (Decca LP 1968)

Not many UK singers where able to pull off a convincing Bossa actually sung in Portuguese, but Tom Springfield manages a great version of this Jobim song.

As his sister Dusty says in the liner notes, this is one of the standouts on the album and I agree with her. Arranged by Bobby Richards who did the soundtrack to 'The Smashing Bird I Used To Know'.



03 Crowdy Crawn - Djinn Djinn (Sentinel LP 1974)

There was much more to Cornwall's first lady of song Brenda Wootton than just folk – she also dipped her toe into other areas like blues and jazz. Here she conjures up a charming version of Jobim's 'Dindi', renaming it 'Djinn Djinn' (after the Arabic mischievous spirits perhaps - well there is a hookah nestling there in her ethnically adorned abode). The track features some lovely flute from John Cox.



04 Robin Jones and his Quintet – El Sueno (Apollo LP 1971)

Robin Jones was one of the UK's finest latin american percussionists. Here is a subtle and moody bossa from his brilliant Denga album featuring nice electric piano from Ian Henry and flute from Olaf Vas



05 Beadle/Horricks Orchestra – Samba Saravah (Major Minor 45 1967)

I think hearing Baden Powell's Samba Saravah on the 'Un Homme et Une Femme' soundtrack was what first got me into Bossa Nova. Great UK version with wordless vocals from (if my hunch is correct) Jackie Lee, who was married to Len Beadle in the 60s.



06 Tony Harrison Trio – Song Of The Jet (Private LP)

Straight out of Yorkshire's Selby Fork Hotel, the Tony Harrison Trio deliver a tasty version of Jobim's 'Song Of The Jet', some nice vocal harmonies and orchestral embellishments take it beyond the usual cabaret standard.



07 David & Marianne Dalmour – The Long Night (Columbia LP 1968)

A lovely slow and delicate bossa from the pen of UK easy/latin mainstay Duncan Lamont, featuring a smokey sax solo from jazz legend Don Rendell.



08 Kathe Green - Bossa Nova (Deram LP 1969)

Yes she's American, but this track was recorded in London with John Cameron so it counts. Green wrote this track and does some lovely wordless vocals.



09 Harmony Grass - I Think Of You (RCA LP 1970)

I reckon Beach Boys obsessive Tony Rivers must have picked up the Bossa influence through Brian Wilson efforts like 'Busy Doin Nothing'. Great track with some fabulous chord changes and vocal harmonies.



10 Chris Parmenter Orchestra – A Man Of Our Times (Polydor LP 1969)

You don't find many covers of this James Clarke track, nice version by Chris Parmenter.



11 Les Sans Nom - Oba Oba (Decca Eclipse LP 1971)

A slightly 'end of the pier' cabaret bossa from the husband/wife and 'friend Geoff' (hmm...) trio.

To my knowledge, Stockport is not known as a hot bed of bossa talent - but this version of the Bonfa classic has it's own charms.



12 Acker Bilk with Leon Young's Brazilians – Murmurio (Columbia EP 1963)

Acker's languid playing style seems to really suit Bossa Nova I think. The sleeve credits Jobim as the writer, but this track is actually by Djalma Ferreira who had a hit with it 3 years before this.



13 Peggy O'Keefe and her Quartet - O Morro (Waverley LP 1966)

Australian born pianist Peggy O'Keefe relocated to Scotland in the 60s and led her own jazz quartet at Glasgow's Chevalier Restaurant. A truly international outfit (drummer Ricky Fernandez was from Singapore and bassist Rudy Celerio from Ceylon) they've got a great feel and tackle a number of bossas on this LP – here we have Jobim's 'O Morro' with some great vibes from Jimmy Feighan.



14 Maggie Eaves Singers – Recado Bossa Nova (Avenue LP 1972)

Slinky version of the Djalma Ferriera track from the Maggie Eaves Singers.



15 Creme Caramel – Excursion (Pye 45 1969)

Led by Ross Mitchell (who also led UK late 60s pop outfit 'The Nocturnes') Creme Caramel come over as a kind of budget UK version of Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. This is a great b side co-written by Mitchell.

[SirSlim]

Well it's been almost 5 years and I need something to cheer myself up (and hopefully you all too...) so here's BRIT BOSSA 2!

This has indeed put a smile on my face - Cheers IAN - downloading now.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Dude!

[Saint Jude]

This looks great. Will listen later. Thanks Ian!

[babycart]

Oh wow. This looks amazing. Thanks, Ian.

[bennyboy]

This is excellent, great work. Already obsessed with the Harmony Grass track.

[IAN]

This is excellent, great work. Already obsessed with the Harmony Grass track.

Thanks bennyboy. Their album is well worth tracking down. Glad you enjoyed.

[eine]

Nationalise this and pipe it at 3pm over all broadcast channels.

Thank you.

[babycart]

Oh wow. This looks amazing. Thanks, Ian.

This is amazing. Third play and I already think this is even better than the 2015 mix, which I revisited earlier today as well. I honestly reckon there's material for a really good, distinctive compilation album in among the two mixes.

Slinky Alan Moorhouse opener; Tom Springfield's Jobim tune is an early highlight, but the Crowdy Crawn is a real stand out that reminds me vaguely of some steel-string and flute north-eastern Brazil stuff – already one of my favourite versions of Dindi, and a song that hints at a fascinating potential for a blend of British folk and bossa that was never picked up on.

Robin Jones is wonderful, too, thoughtful jazzy bossa. Another reason why I finally need to get hold of this record and still regret passing up a cheap copy years back.

Samba Saravah really needs to be a bit cheesy to work best, I think, and I especially like the fruity trumpet parping on this one.

David & Marianne Dalmour is just gorgeous. Top after-hours torch vibes with lovely vocals and pure Don Rendell class. I've never heard of these two before, but I'll be looking closer.

Kathe Green has that dreamy continental OST vibe and Harmony Grass also has a shabadaba library vibe to it before turning into something really surprising and enjoyable.

The Chris Parmenter track is lovely, despite not quite managing that ginga swing, like your mum doing the samba. Meanwhile while Les Sans Nom do seem to weirdly nail that pulsating rinky-dink Walter Wanderley organ shuffle

Peggy O Keefe's vibes guy is brilliant, and Creme Caramel is the first convincing Mendes-alike I've heard from Britain.


Thanks for this, Ian. It's quite clearly a labour of love, with plenty of research and time involved, and it deserves a lot more views than it'll get here. I remember about 10 years ago when the Loronix blog was going full force and he'd sometimes put up odd stuff from round the word. It was almost always received well, and I bet they'd have absolutely loved this.

[IAN]

Crowdy Crawn is a real stand out that reminds me vaguely of some steel-string and flute north-eastern Brazil stuff – already one of my favourite versions of Dindi, and a song that hints at a fascinating potential for a blend of British folk and bossa that was never picked up on.

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts Bc.

The Crowdy Crawn is one of my favourites on the mix. I think they make it their own in not trying too hard to make it a bossa but just re-interpreting it in their own way.

Interesting that you mention the folk angle. As I've put this mix together I've come to the conclusion that the UK Bossa stuff seems to come from 3 distinct musical places - you have the jazz guys, who perhaps get closest to getting the swing and groove right.

Next you have the cabaret/strict tempo crowd, who saw Bossa as just another latin rhythm to get involved with - they kind of get the rhythm, but not the swing. Then you have folk people approaching it as just another strand of world folk music - they seem to get the feel/atmosphere/mood right (like Crowdy Crawn), but without concentrating so much on the rhythm.

[IAN]

Creme Caramel is the first convincing Mendes-alike I've heard from Britain.

They even went for the four guys two girls line up...

[babycart]

Interesting that you mention the folk angle. As I've put this mix together I've come to the conclusion that the UK Bossa stuff seems to come from 3 distinct musical places - you have the jazz guys, who perhaps get closest to getting the swing and groove right.

Next you have the cabaret/strict tempo crowd, who saw Bossa as just another latin rhythm to get involved with - they kind of get the rhythm, but not the swing. Then you have folk people approaching it as just another strand of world folk music - they seem to get the feel/atmosphere/mood right (like Crowdy Crawn), but without concentrating so much on the rhythm.

I think there's a fourth place, probably closest to the jazzers but, rather than looking towards the US and Getz /Byrd etc, you had smart session musicians involved in OSTs and library music who very quickly realised that Un Homme et une Femme had established bossa as part of a distinctly European vocabulary of incidental music. Shabadaba, or whatever you want to call it, was massive in Europe, and some Brits picked up on it fast
The Kathe Green track seems to come from that.
I've come across a couple of Scandinavian folk artists tackling bossa, and the results are always engaging. I'd love to find more of that strand of stuff.

[IAN]

I think there's a fourth place, probably closest to the jazzers but, rather than looking towards the US and Getz /Byrd etc, you had smart session musicians involved in OSTs and library music who very quickly realised that Un Homme et une Femme had established bossa as part of a distinctly European vocabulary of incidental music. Shabadaba, or whatever you want to call it, was massive in Europe, and some Brits picked up on it fast
The Kathe Green track seems to come from that.
I've come across a couple of Scandinavian folk artists tackling bossa, and the results are always engaging. I'd love to find more of that strand of stuff.

You're right bc, I forgot about the euro bossa soundtrack/library thing. Kathe Green definitely has that flavour. What is it though? Hard to describe, you just know it when you hear it! That sound didn't seem to have too much impact in the UK, apart from on the libraries, with the James Clark stuff on KPM and the odd OST. (After Un Homme it seemed every soundtrack was contractually obliged to have at least one bossa on it).

The Scandanavian bossa thing has always intrigued me, I think they probably did the best stuff outside of Brazil. There seemed to be some kind of connection and cross fertilisation - some Brazilian artists recorded there, like Sivuca. They had a lot of Sergio Mendes type outfits like The Gimmicks and so on. And like you say their folk/bossa crossover is interesting. I've been listening to some Cornelis Vreeswijk recently and liking his bossa type stuff.

I guess the fifth strand is the early 60s novelty pop one, (when everyone from Elvis to Jimmy Saville piled in) - I've given this one a bit of a wide berth which is why none appeared in the chart.

[Tom B]

Belated thanks Ian, top lockdown Easter listening

[SirSlim]

Just on my 3rd play of this over the last 3 days of fittingly hot and sunny weather - as Babycart says above - possibly even better than volume 1! Back with more comments when I have more time. Thanks again IAN.