top of page
  • Legacy and Alchemy

Here's the back story our production of "Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser"


Album Track from the "Alexandra Jackson: Legacy & Alchemy" album: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/alexandrajackson4

Musicians in Video:

ALEXANDRA JACKSON

Teo Lima: Drums Marcelo Mariano: Bass Andre Siqueira: Percussion Leo Amuedo: Guitar Marco Brito: Piano Paulo Calasans: Keyboards Danilo Sinna: Tenor Sax

BACK STORY

The original track was recorded for the iconic 1972 Clube da Esquina album featuring MILTON NASCIMENTO, LO BORGES and other legendary Minas Gerais musicians. This album signaled a new phase in Brazil music.

It is Song #1 on the Alexandra Jackson album as it is intended to signal our contribution to showing a way forward in 2018 with a new phase of Brazil music. Our track is a combination of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Chicago R&B groove.

We embrace and honor the great “LEGACY” of Clube da Esquina, while presenting the “ALCHEMY” of our musical vision.

CLUBE DA ESQUINA

Clube da Esquina was a Brazilian music artists collective, originating in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is also the name of a double album from 1972. Clube da Esquina mixes rock and roll, progressive rock, bossa nova and jazz styles, with Brazilian country music and classical music influences. The Beatles and the Platters were also an important influence on Clube da Esquina.

Together with Tropicália, Clube da Esquina is usually regarded as the Brazilian musical movement that achieved the greatest international resonance in the post-bossa nova period (beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s).

In 1963 Milton Nascimento moved from Três Pontas, in the midlands of the state of Minas Gerais, to the capital Belo Horizonte, looking for work. He settled at the Levy building, where the Borges Family, including Márcio Borges, already lived. Milton and Márcio started composing (Milton had already played in some bars of Belo Horizonte): Márcio wrote the lyrics, and Milton wrote the music. Ever since, Márcio has played an important role in the history of Clube de Esquina as a lyricist, mainly together with, at a later stage, Fernando Brant.

In 1972, the first LP was recorded for EMI, Clube da Esquina. It was a double LP and had a youth group, and it attracted attention because of its engaging compositions, its patchwork of sounds, and its poetic richness. The group wrote a part of one of the most important chapters in the history of Brazilian popular music. It drew the attention of musicians from Brazil and abroad with its artistic daring and innovative creativity.

At the time, critics lacked the ability to understand what was happening and made harsh comments about the work. But the album had soon won international recognition and prestige in Brazil. The album and its creators became the head of a network musicians around the world, making it a benchmark of style and aesthetics in contemporary music.

It was followed by another album in 1978 (Clube da Esquina 2), which contained tracks written by artists who were not part of the original group (such as Chico Buarque).

OUR PRODUCTION

The history of this song for our album starts in 2011 when Arthur Maia first played Robert Hebert a demo of an arrangement that he was working on with Marcello Ferreira and two other musicians. Robert always saw this song as the next step beyond the early Sade effort to fuse Brazilian and American music. The difference is that Arthur Maia et al are among Brazil’s greatest musicians ever -- far beyond where Sade’s musicians were at the early stages in their careers -- when Sade’s original music producer Robin Millar crafted the Sade sound on their first albums.

For example, Arthur is perhaps the greatest Brazil bassist ever, and the demo that he and Minas Gerais native Marcello crafted embodied a level of genuine Brazil musicality that Sade could only dream of (whether in 1982, or today 2018).

That 2011 Maia / Ferreira demo was a sound (an evolution of Sade) that Hebert had been chasing since 1989.

And, Alexandra Jackson fell in love with it.

Our track was recorded twice. The song was first produced for the album in April 2015 with Maia as Producer. Arthur cut a new arrangement ... funkier and equally good. But, it was not the vibe that Hebert and Jackson had fallen in love with. It seemed to lack something ... the essential “Mineiro essence” of the 2011 demo. So, working with Ferreira and Maia ... Hebert step-by-step re-constructed the demo. He went back to the demo musicians from 2011 (Arthur, Marcello, Heber Ribeiro, and Cassio Duarte), and recreated the vibe.

Then, in July 2016 Robert took the musicians back into the studio to re-cut the drums and percussion to the demo: Marcello’s acoustic guitar track and Arthur’s bass, plus Ribeiro’s Rhodes and Duarte’s percussion. That is what you hear on the final track: Arthur, Marcello, Heber and Cassio ... with Ricardo Silveira, Teo Lima and Armando Marcal added, and then (later added) musicians Marco Brito and Marcelo Martins. There are notable appearances by Mineiros Marcello Ferreira and Paula Santoro.

Alexandra sings in Portuguese -- vocals recorded in Rio de Janeiro in February 2016 under the watchful eyes of Chris Walker and Paula Santoro. Backing Vocals are by Alexandra, Chris Walker, Darryl Tookes and Curtis King -- recorded in New Jersey in January 2016.

=====================================================

ALBUM VERSION

"Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser”

(Marcio Borges / Lo Broges)

ALEXANDRA JACKSON featuring Arthur Maia

Produced by Robert Hebert and Arthur Maia

Co-Produced by Marcello Ferreira

Vocals Produced by Chris Walker

Arthur Maia: Bass Teo Lima: Drums Marcello Ferreira: Acoustic Guitar Armando Marcal: Percussion Marcelo Martins: Tenor Sax Marco Brito: Rhodes Ricardo Silveira: Electric Guitar Cassio Duarte: Additional Percussion Heber Ribeiro: Additional Keyboards Chris Walker, Darryl Tookes and Curtis King: Backing Vocals -- with special appearance by Paula Santora on Vocals

Engineered by Ricardo Dias, Guido Pera, Danny Leake and Luther Banks Mixed by Ed Cherney Mastered by Danny Leake and Andreas Meyer

The album ALEXANDRA JACKSON: LEGACY & ALCHEMY is available NOW on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, Spotify and all other platforms.

All Copyrights 2018 -- LEGACY AND ALCHEMY, LLC

25 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

"Gift of Heart" ....

Gift of Heart (Christmas in Rio) by ROBERT HÉBERT: Bossa Nova Noites featuring Najee & Curtis King, Jr. HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Producer & Artist ROBERT HÉBERT "Gift of Heart" (Christmas in Rio): https://

bottom of page