Luiz Bonfá
Luiz Bonfá wrote the melodies that still define Black Orpheus, above all Manhã de Carnaval, and forged a bold, lyrical Brazilian guitar voice that bridged samba-canção and bossa nova.
His writing sits in the emotionally charged samba-canção world that preceded João Gilberto’s quieter bossa nova: lush, direct, and built for voice as much as for the fretboard. As a guitarist he was a frequent soloist, often carrying melody and rhythm at once in a polyphonic line, brassier and more penetrating than the suave rhythm style of his peers. Film work beyond Black Orpheus, and songs such as Samba de Orfeu, The Gentle Rain and Almost in Love, carried that sound into jazz and popular repertoires worldwide. On these discs his name appears where those standards still live: A Day in the Life of a Fool and the Black Orpheus theme among them.
Compositions by Luiz Bonfá appear on
Seasons of Love
A jazz trio, string orchestra and guest soloists join vocalists Gian Slater and Eddie Perfect. Graeme Lyall’s rich arrangements refresh Great American Songbook standards and other stage and screen favourites.
Wordless Meanings
In the beginning there was harmony – before anyone asked “What sort of music do you play?”, before everyone grew too busy to listen, before music became ‘the industry’. Somewhere along the way, harmony was lost in a cacophony of meaningless words.
The Tony Gould Quartet: Live in Concert
Captured live in concert, this album of well-known and much-loved jazz pieces features the acclaimed pianist Tony Gould and Graeme Lyall, one of Australia’s greatest saxophonists.
Love Rhapsody
Emma Sidney’s debut jazz album Love Rhapsody traces love in every mood, from triumph to loss. Standards sit beside three of her own songs, sung with swing, Latin colour and intimate ballad feeling.