Antonio Carlos Jobim – Stone Flower (Stereo, Speakers Corner)

That there was still a lot to say for the man from Ipanema is shown by this album, which shows Jobim's creative profile at its peak of maturity. Already in the first title, in which Urbie Green sings in the purest and highest notes on the trombone "Tereza My Love", it becomes apparent that the late vintage of the bossa structures the style-forming rhythm far more finely than the dance-febrile earliness. The melodies are rhythmically interwoven with shining gold and silver threads, as it were, and condensed sound waves remain fragrant and tender. And yet the players also let the samba horses off the leash when the Latin classic "Brazil" is crisply lace-making.

Sound magician Deodato as arranger and conductor and Rudy van Gelder as audio technician round off this LP to a masterpiece of the bossa repertoire, with which everything should really be said.

"Stone Flower" - Antonio Carlos Jobim (p, el-p, v, voc, g); Joe Farrell (ss); Urbie Green (tb); Hubert Laws (fl); Eumir Deodato (g, arr, cond); Harry Lookofsky (v); Ron Carter (b); Airto Moreira, Everaldo Ferreira (perc); João Palma (dr); João Palma (dr)

Reviews

"Lovely." (Good Times, April / May 2015)

"...this perfectly pressed 180-gram reissue brings the old magic, which looks like the soundtrack of that era, into today." (Stereo, July 2015)