Jorge Ben
Tropical
Tropical is Jorge Ben's fifteenth album, a “muscular” mix of previously unreleased material and rearranged covers such as “Taj Mahal” and “País tropical”. The openness to more Pop, more Western arrangements, foreshadows his future work oriented towards the stereotypical World-Dance of the 1980s. Tropical was originally intended for the market outside Brazil, and was not distributed there until 1977. A very fine confirming his immense talent and ability to adapt to the zeitgeist by intelligently …
Samba Esquema Novo
Back in print ! First released in 1963 on Phillips Records, this was Jorge Ben's debut album. "Samba Esquema Novo", which translates to 'New Style Samba' deliberately sets a new standard in Brazilian music. A beautiful, fresh and vital combination of Ben's percussive guitar and smooth/rough voice backed by Big Band style horns, percussion (the great Dom Um Romao) and strings. In 2007, it was listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 100 best Brazilian albums in history, but It would be enough…
África Brasil
África Brasil is a 1976 release by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. It was Ben's 14th studio album and a milestone in his career with a switch to electric guitar and funk music leaks. For África Brasil Ben reworked three of his earlier compositions: "A Princesa e o Plebeu" from Sacundin Ben Samba, "Taj Mahal" from Ben, and "Zumbi" from A Tábua de Esmeralda. The album's opening track "Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)", a song about an African football striker, became a well known soccer-associate…
Ben
*2023 reissue* The long unavailable ninth album by Brazilian star Jorge Ben. Released in 1972, "Ben" comes from one of Jorge Ben’s most artistically important phases, the early 70s. The album has some of Ben’s most famous songs, “Taj Mahal” (plagiarized by Rod Stewart on his song “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, as the British singer admitted himself in 2012), and “Fio Maravilha”, paying homage to Flamengo’s iconic football player Fio Maravilha.
A Tábua De Esmeralda
Searing samba soul from Jorge Ben – one of his best-remembered albums of the 70s, and for good reason too! The album's got a slightly fuller feel than some of Ben's other work of the time – never slick, but with backings balanced nicely against his own raspy vocals and acoustic guitar – sweetening things up with a bit of the strings you'd find on Forca Bruta, but with a hint of the soul to come on Africa Brasil! The balance is great – thanks to arrangers Osmar Milito, Darcy De Paulo, and Hugo Be…
Negro É Lindo
*In process of stocking* "Negro é Lindo is a worthy successor for the great album he had released in the previous year. Jorge Ben now takes his sound further toward a tropical Soul, a style that was his unique invention. But there are also still those hypnotic Samba grooves. Clearly, Negro é Lindo belongs to those master albums Jorge Ben bestowed to the world. With a good handful of records, Jorge Ben enriched Brazilian Pop and beyond, international Pop music. Negro é Lindo is one of them.
While…
Fôrça Bruta
The combination of Jorge Ben and Trio Mocotó had already produced great things when Força Bruta first appeared in 1970. Ben's self-titled album of the year before had reeled off a succession of Brazilian hits, including "País Tropical" and "Cadê Teresa," and made the four musicians very busy as a result. Força Bruta was a slightly different album, a slice of mellow samba soul that may perhaps have been the result of such a hectic schedule during 1969. One of the hidden gems in Jorge Ben's discog…
"O Bidu" Silencio No Brooklyn
*2022 repress* O Bidú: Silêncio no Brooklin is the fifth studio album by Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist Jorge Ben. It was recorded with Brazilian rock band The Fevers as Ben's backing musicians and released in 1967 by Artistas Unidos, a small-market record label based in São Paulo.
The album was recorded while Ben was living in Brooklin, a neighborhood of São Paulo with Erasmo Carlos. Its title is a reference to a car that Ben owned at the time and the subtitle is a joke on a neighbor…
Jorge Ben
The sixth studio album of the Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. Released in 1969, it was Jorge Ben’s first album with Trio Mocotó, a group that would be backing him along the 70’s on many other seminal albums, such as Força Bruta (1970), Negro É Lindo (1971) and A Tábua de Esmeralda (1974). The present album is said to have influenced the “Tropicália” movement, as three tracks from this set, “Que pena”, “País tropical” and “Charles, anjo 45” were immediately covered by Gal Costa (the former two), and …
Samba Esquema Novo
Samba Esquema Novo is the 1963 debut album by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. It includes the original recording of the international hit “Mas Que Nada”. It was listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 100 best Brazilian albums in history. While many of the performers during the heyday of Tropicalia and the rise of MPB (música popular brasileira) opted for a more radical stance in their challenge to Brazil’s political and cultural authorities, artists like Jorge Ben took a more understated app…
Solta o Pavão
A reissue of Jorge Ben's Solta o Pavão, originally released in 1975. Jorge Ben is one of Brazilian music's iconic and best-loved figures. Born Jorge Duilio Lima Menezes in Rio in 1942, he took the stage name, Jorge Ben, in deference to his mother's Ethiopian roots, and later used Jorge Ben Jorge for further distinction.Playing tambourine and singing in a church choir from an early age, Ben began playing in Carnival blocos and was performing in nightclubs as a teen. Signed to Philips in 1963, his…
Sacundin Ben Samba
One of Jorge Ben's greatest albums – a groundbreaking blend of samba and soul that forever went onto transform the face of Brazilian music! The record works off the groove set down by Jorge's earlier hit "Mas Que Nada" (which appears on another LP), and takes the blend of bossa, samba, and jazz, and infuses it with a sense of folksy soul delivered by Jorge's raspy vocals and acoustic guitar work. The combination of styles works perfectly – and every track on the album sparkles with a sense of ex…
Ben É Samba Bom
A stunner of a record from the mighty Jorge Ben – and a record that catapulted the Brazilian singer to international fame at the time! This is his second legendary LP, a seminal killer and as usual features some of the best arrangers in the genre, first released in Brazil in 1964. While many of the performers during the heyday of Tropicalia and the rise of MPB (música popular brasileira) opted for a more radical stance in their challenge to Brazil’s political and cultural authorities, artists li…
Jorge Ben 1969
A samba soul masterpiece from Jorge Ben – one of the most brilliant records to come out the fertile late 60s Brazilian scene – and an incredible album that works with the psychedelic flourishes of Ben's contemporaries and a deeper undercurrent of soul & funk! This is one of the most amazing early Jorge Ben LPs, recorded at the end of the 60s, when Jorge was singing with a stone-cold soul sound. The sharp, tight arrangements by Rogerio Duprat & Jose Briamonte made tracks like "Pais Tropical", "Ta…