Antonio Carlos & Jocafi JID026

バイーア出身の伝説的デュオAntonio Carlos & Jocafiは50年以上にわたりブラジルの魂を体現してきた存在。Adrian YoungeとAli Shaheed Muhammadとのコラボレーション作品が登場。今作で創造的な生命力をあらためて示すと同時に、時代を超えるバイーアの精神を新たな世代へと届けている。サルヴァドールのメルカード・モデルとグローバルな舞台を結び、バイーアの民俗的伝統をJazz Is Deadならではのアナログ・ソウルへと織り込んだ作品となっています。

The first 2026 release from Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammads Jazz Is Dead label is in collaboration with legendary Brazilian singing-songwriting duo Antonio Carlos & Jocafi. The pair -- both from Salvador, Bahia -- have been working together since the late 1960s and have not only recorded their own hits, but delivered them for dozens of other artists as well. This is the pairs first new recording since the 1990s. Muhammad and Younge were in Brazil in 2022 when they were introduced to Antonio Carlos & Jocafi by Baiana Systems Beto Barreto. The men hit it off and made tentative plans to record together. In 2025 Antonio Carlos & Jocafi came to play the Jazz Is Dead club. Younge and Muhammad set them up in their studio with a hip band, and a backing chorus later recorded at Kassins studio Rio studio. The program consists of six tracks co-written by the quartet, and two composed by Younge with soul singer Loren Oden performing them. Opener "Rala-Bucho" translates as a forro dance. The Brazilians force a driving beat that crosses jazz, and funky candombe rhythms. Antonio Carlos & Jocafi deliver the trancelike lyrics over a four voice backing chorus with driving instrumentation by Younge, who plays everything from guitars and basses to keys and flute and others. The chanted lyric rides along the drums and percussion before the band kicks in full tilt with a propulsive, irresistable groove. They switch it up on "Canarin Da Alemanha," to meld poppy MPB with strident Bahian dance music. Its a carnival fanstasia with glorious vocal inteprlay appended by slippery guitar, bass and percussion. The poetic, happy "Menina Do Tororó," weds samba and MPB with the Bahian duo trading sung lines. The meld of acoustic guitars and organic percussion buoys the singers as Younge adorns the mix playfully with saxophones, keys, piccolo and flute. "Ta Com Medo Por Quê" is much funkier as drums and bass meet electric guitars, horns and a driving trancelike bass line as the vocalists strut and swing over the band in a celebratory mix. "Bacaxa," is a breezy samba with lyrics by Younge, sung by the duo and backing singers. He peppers the midtempo grooves with layered saxes, keyboards, flutes and electric guitars including a languid wah wah pedal. "Quixodó" is a lovely, swinging take on 21st century MPB. Younge wrote the lyrics for "Nunca Mais," the first of two tracks with Oden on lead vocals. Thanks to the participation of the Bahian duo, the tune never loses its steamy, sultry, jaunty samba flavor; subtle dub production overtones add an element of the exotic. The final track, "Loca Pasion," with lead vocals by finds the Brazilians on exquisite backing vocals. A seductive samba rhythm holds sway over marimba, vibraphone, synths, saxes and guitars. Odens vocal is sultry in wedding soul to psychedelic MPB and the Brazilians support him with glorious vocal harmony. Antonio Carlos & Jocafi JID026 is sublime; it signals new frontiers for the label and exposes international audiences to the infectious musical greatness of their legendary subjects. ~ Thom Jurek