Antonio Carlos Jobim
Stone Flower
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Piano,
Electric Piano, Vocal, Guitar
Eumir Deodato, Guitar
Ron Carter, Bass
Lenny White, Drums
Joao Palma, Drums
Airto Moreira, Percussion
Everaldo Ferreira, Percussion
Urbie Green, Trombone solos
Joe Farrell, Soprano sax solo on "God and the
Devil"
Hubert Laws, Flute solo on "Amparo"
Harry Lookofsky, Violin solon on "Stone Flower
Produced by 
Recorded at
Van Gelder Studios
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Rudy Van Gelder, Engineer
Recorded March 16; April 23, 24 & 29; and May 8, 20 & 22, 1970
Catalog Number:
EK 61616
Format: CD
Release Date: 2002
Label: CTI/Sony |
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Click on tracks
 to hear sound samples.
1. Tereza My Love (4:22)
2. Children's Games (3:26)
3. Choro (2:07)
4. Brazil (9:40)
5. Stone Flower (3:23)
6. Amparo (3:39)
7. Andorinha (3:30)
8. God and the Devil in the Land of the Sea (2:20)
9. Sabia (3:58)
10. Brazil (5:25) |
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Antonio
Carlos Jobim is to Brazilian music what Duke Ellington is to American jazz
– an innovative, prolific, and sublime pianist/songwriter whose art has
come to symbolize a certain time and place. Influenced as much by the cool
sounds of '50s West Coast jazz as by the melodies of Claude Debussy and
the rhythms of the Brazilian samba, Jobim wrote the songs that, when performed
by the likes of Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, drove the global bossa nova
craze of the '60s. By 1970, the year Jobim recorded Stone Flower, the music
industry had already succeeded in destroying the public's appetite for bossa
nova by oversaturating the market with schlocky albums recorded by fading
musicians intent on reviving their careers with a little Brazilian spice.
These mass-produced, superficially bossa nova albums were typically formulaic
and contrived, generating a garbage glut which all but guaranteed that Jobim's
sophisticated Stone Flower would wilt outside the limelight. Recorded by
Rudy Van Gelder and produced by Creed Taylor, this understated Jobim masterpiece
brought back all of the hushful elegance and simmering beauty that had originally
defined the bossa nova sound. Far from a conventional bossa nova album,
Stone Flower was ambitious and original, infused with all of Jobim's creativity
and tender soulfulness. The opening track, "Tereza My Love," establishes
the lush mood of the album, with a gently strummed acoustic guitar playing
out a bossa nova rhythm as Jobim adds meditative touches of piano. The delicate
yet complex string, wind, and horn arrangements of Deodato float sensuously
over the smouldering rhythms of bassist Ron Carter, drummer João Palma,
and percussionists Airto Moreira and Everaldo Ferreira. "Children's Games"
and "Brazil" draw out the feeling, as Jobim's electric and acoustic piano
melodies glide with minimalist grace. The music is moody and cinematic,
conjuring up vivid equatorial landscapes of green and blue, sand-swept paradises
of the mind, imaginary vistas to absorb as the album plays. More of a unified
suite than a collection of individual songs, Stone Flower provided Jobim
with no radio hits because it had none to yield (although Carlos Santana
would later cover "Stone Flower" on his Top Ten album, Caravanserai). The
album is a cohesive whole, unfolding song by song, gradually filling the
listener with its dreamy vibe. And because mood is everything, there are
surprisingly few solos taken, despite the presence of such major jazz talents
as Joe Farrell on soprano sax and Hubert Laws on flute. These musicians
play with uncharacteristic restraint, stepping out occasionally to punctuate
the music with just the right color and shading. Simply put, Stone Flower
is a lush, deceptively simple, late-night Jobim classic. It is the perfect
soundtrack for escaping into your own mental oasis.
– John Ballon
Antonio Carlos Jobim's Stone Flower is a classic blend of Brazilian ecstasy
with jazz. Jobim's adorable jazz waltz "Children's Games" is given a definitive
reading here, as is the swinging samba title track. Guitarist Eumir Deodato's
arrangements are kept on a leash, while Jobim plays piano and electric piano
(occasionally croons), with usual suspects Carter and Laws, buttressed by
extra percussion, Farrell on soprano sax and Urbie Green's lush trombone.
Stone Flower, recorded in 1970, points up the composer's brilliance beyond
the more famous classic Jobim songs, giving us little-known gems alongside
familiar themes.
– Down Beat
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Antonio Carlos Jobim
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