FERNANDO GIRÃO - Portugal Rare Heavy prog jazz-funk LP

	€		45
	$		52

VERY NICE [Fernando Girão] featuring José Luís Tinoco (Saga / Homo Sapiens)

“Discretamente”

LP 12”

Imavox IM-30.018

1977

Portugal

Record: Very Good +

Cover: Very Good +

Gatefold with Portuguese lyrics printed

This is the first full length record made by Portuguese singer Fernando Girão, here under his then guise of Very Nice. Son of Brazilian fado singer Maria Girão and Portuguese guitar player Fernando de Freitas (who worked along with Amália Rodrigues in the beginning of her career), Fernando Girão had previously played in a group called Heavy Band. This legendary hard rock/progressive outfit featured guitar player Filipe Mendes, from psychedelic combo Chinchilas, and they recorded two almost-impossible to find singles for Decca / Valentim de Carvalho in 1972. Afterwards, Girão recorded some singles on his own, notably “Engrenagem” (1972) and “Brothers of the Sun / Yes I Know” (1976), this last one already paving the way for the LP you are now watching, “Discretamente”, released on the following year.

What you get here is a mixture of prog and jazz-funk, strongly served by the wonderful musicians that play together with Girão in this record. The vocal accent is partly Portuguese partly Brazilian Portuguese, and the music goes along in this Pan-Atlantic cauldron. Starting with the devilish cries of “Comício dos Loucos” [“Reunion of the Madmen”] and finishing with the Raul Seixas-like apocalyptic “O Músico / Final” [“The Musician / Finale”], this album is a prog jazz-funk journey of high calibre. There is also time for a ballad, “El Conquistador”, but the tonic is heavily on synthesizer-driven tracks. You’ll love killing songs like “Blues (Quantas Vezes)” [“Blues (How Many Times)”], “O Homem Moderado” [“The Moderate Man”], “Cadunta”. Portuguese top singer Paulo de Carvalho (who also recorded one of the best prog jazz rock LP’s of that time, the homonymous “Paulo de Carvalho”, in 1977) guests in “Do Outro Lado da Barreira” [“On the Other Side of the Border”] and “a) Vem Ver; b) Coro das Crianças; c) Vou-me Soltar” [“a) Come and See; b) Children’s Choir; c) I’m Going To Be Free”], this last one highly reminding top Quarteto 1111 psychedelic tracks, complete with flute.

Among the musicians here you’ll find piano and synthesizer player José Luís Tinoco (who even writes one of the songs), the chief creator behind the acclaimed LP “Homo Sapiens” – recorded on the previous year by his group Saga and featured on Hans Pokora “4001 Record Collector Dreams”. Rão Kyao (a top saxophone player in the Portuguese jazz scene), Luís Pedro Fonseca (ex-member of two of the best Portuguese psychedelic groups, Plexus and Chinchilas), Emílio Robalo, José Eduardo (later on, he would ran a jazz school in Barcelona, Spain) and Armindo Neves (who at that time was a member of the last formation of Quarteto 1111) show also why they were considered some of the best musicians in Portugal around the 70’s and the 80’s. There’s even a track with lyrics co-writen with José Castro, one of the two halves of the group Petrus Castrus (Fernando Girão would guest on their superb concept rock album “Ascenção e Queda”, who would be released in 1978).

This is indeed a great record and one that you won’t see again very often! Don’t lose your chance of getting it!

Musicians:

Very Nice [Fernando Girão]: voices, percussion

José Luís Tinoco: acoustic piano, synthesizer

Emílio Robalo: Fender Rhodes piano, acoustic piano, synthesizer, effects

José Eduardo: Fender bass, acoustic bass

Joãozinho Oiã: drums

Rão Kyao: tenor saxophone, bamboo flute

Paul Stocker: alto saxophone

Luís Pedro Fonseca: voices, shouts

Armindo Neves: electric guitar

Paulo de Carvalho: voices

Choir “Pequenos Amigos da Estrada da Luz”: children’s choir

Tracks:

1 - Abertura: a) Em Memória (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão), b) Comício dos Loucos (lyrics: Pessoa Mesquita; music: Fernando Girão; c) Desta P'ra Outra (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

2 - Blues (Quantas Vezes) (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

3 - El Conquistador (lyrics: Fernando Girão - José Castro; music: Emílio Robalo)

4 - O Homem Moderado (lyrics: Fernando Girão; music: Fernando Girão – José Luís Tinoco)

5 – Cadunta (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

6 – Do Outro Lado da Barreira (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

7 – a) Vem Ver; b) Coro das Crianças; c) Vou-me Soltar (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

8 - a) O Músico; b) Final (lyrics and music: Fernando Girão)

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Thanks for your interest in this great record!