Images on Guitar

The late Brazilian acoustic guitarist Baden Powell – yes, his father named him after the founder of the scouting movement – played a remarkable role in developing contemporary Brazilian music, fusing as he did influences from bossa, samba and regional folkloric musics with jazz, pop and classical traits. The reissue of this 1971 album finds Powell obviously enjoying the liberation that the revolutions in music and society allowed for – the album cover is very ‘of its time’ – as he leads a small ensemble through a fusion that still sounds fresh today.

Opening track ‘Ate-Eu’ is a sombre samba, the guitarist creating a web of textures over a restrained but forceful rhythm. ‘Petit Waltz’ is faster as Powell repeats a simple motif over a percussive polyrhythm. For much of the album it’s the instrumental interplay between the guitarist and his rhythm section that provides a dynamic. Things really pick up when vocalist Janine De Waleyne joins on ‘Blues a volonte’, this dynamic samba would surely set dance floors moving today. Then things return to more meditative pursuits with closing track ‘Canto’ seeing Powell’s lyrical guitar playing marking out the beauty of that rich terra where bossa nova and samba meet jazz.