Now in his mid-eighties, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and all-around visionary Hermeto Pascoal has entered an agreement with Englands wonderful Far Out Recordings. Their initial project with him was the first-ever release of the stellar Viajando Com o Som: The Lost 76 Vice-Versa Studio Sessions, in 2017. He is overseeing the Far Out reissue of his Airto Moreira/Flora Purim-produced 1970 self-titled debut album, and provided them this tape: the first-ever release of 1981s Planetario da Gavea. It is among the first concerts by Pascoals long-lived supergroup, who would come to be known simply as "O Grupo." Pascoal plays saxes, flutes, bass horn, and piano, and hes joined by drummers/percussionists Pernambuco, Marcio Bahia, and Ze Eduardo Nazario, bassist Itibere Zwarg, keyboardist Jovino Santos Neto, and soprano saxophonist/flutist Carlos Malta. This show took place at Rios Planetarium in 1981. It was their coming-out party; the band had spent months practicing seven days a week, and wouldnt record in studio until later that year. Much of the material here is previously unissued. This soundboard tape is more than 40 years old. Daniel Maunicks restoration is remarkable. While some instruments are a tad unbalanced, fidelity is excellent. He went to great pains to preserve the gigs raw atmosphere and the bands knife-edge drama. The opening medley of "Paz Amor e Esperanca" and "Homonimo Sintrovio" lasts more than half an hour. The former, which appeared on 1980s Cerebro Magnetico, begins with spectral improvisation from melodica, horns, and droning keys before Zwarg, Pascoals bass horn, and the drummers kick it into gear. It flows across samba, free jazz, and fusion for the next 18 minutes, creating a tapestry of spirited interplay. After flute and keyboard solos, the previously unissued "Homonimo Sintrovio" whispers in with folksy soprano sax lines, Rhodes piano, and syncopated percussion before exploding into an orgy of rhythm. "Samba do Belaqua" offers reedy post-bop horns up front, balanced by a groovy Rhodes piano integrating killer melodic improvisation and quotes from CTI-era Bob James. Pascoals tenor solo is resonant, colorful, and complex. He introduces the previously unreleased "Bombardino," an elegant exercise in improvised jazz fusion welded onto electric samba. The composers oft-covered famous "Sao Jorge" appears in a killer medley with the funky, then-unrecorded jam "Ilza na Feijoada," offering an amazing Malta soprano solo. Set closer "Jegue" commences as an astonishing 7/4 samba, juxtaposing complex lyric and dissonant harmonies inside a melodic vamp suggesting the Weather Report era of Heavy Weather and Mr. Gone. The interactive polyrhythmic invention and interplay is labyrinthine; it surrounds the front line and bathes them in joyously syncopated pulses. Pascoal and Malta offer striking call-and-response conversation before moving toward swinging post-bop. Planetario da Gavea is a grail for fans of Pascoal and vintage Brazilian jazz. This music is presented as wooly, raw, joyous, and virtuosic. This band not only fired on all cylinders here, they created wildly inventive new directions for electric samba, Brazilian jazz-funk, and 80s fusion. ~ Thom Jurek

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