Dori Caymmi’s US recording career began with this 1988 CD and it carries all of the trappings of an instant classic – confirmed with the passage of time and an impressive series of recordings which define, refine and amplify the nature of the Brazilian soul.
These are strong words, to be sure – especially for only his fourth album, but Dori’s talent made an immediate impact on his new American home of Los Angeles and with some guidance from friend and former boss Sergio Mendes, Caymmi created a masterpiece.
From the opening notes of ‘Gabriela’s Song’ there’s a sense of something new – no, make that revolutionary – about his brand of Brazilian music. There’s passion, warmth, reflection and joy found in abundance but cloaked in nuance. Listening to Dori Caymmi’s music is intensely personal – as if you’re secretly spying into his very being.
That’s one way to explain music of the highest caliber.
Several of these songs come from his earlier self-titled albums of 1980 and ’82: ‘Desenredo’ ‘Guararapes’, ‘Porto’, ‘Desafio’ and ‘Velho Piano’ – which features his sister Nana - receive new arrangements, benefiting from the experience of years. New songs like ‘Obsession’ and ‘Garbriela’s Song’ show his growing strength as a songwriter with a lyrical bent. And songs like his 'Like A Lover' would soon lead to dozens of US singers from Al Jarreau to Sarah Vaughan to pick up on his tunes for their own albums.
And this very rare and hard-to-find CD fathered a series of five-star albums – each unique in the aspect of creativity in the highest degree, and all part of the whole; an uninterrupted flow that would culminate in Grammy nominations and worldwide acclaim.
But all of that would be for future days. This is where the journey really began for Dori Caymmi.
