As though the well-known delicacies from the seemingly endless bossa nova recipe book were not tasty enough to put a broad smile on the face of every rhythm fan! But what the Brazilian group Tamba 4, successor to the legendary Tamba Trio, concocts in the very first number “The Hill” takes one’s breath away! For more than eight minutes the pianist Luiz Eca and his combo unleash not a pulsating endurance race but a surging bossa symphony with continually changing patterns. All the while Luiz gives free rein to his passion for impressionistic timbres and swings along cheerfully, throwing in snippets of Gershwin melodies here and there with unabashed conviction. Nothing is ever copied, however, but emanates from the highly varied styles of Afro-American music, jazz-swing and European contemporary music to create a unique and highly individual style.

Regarded from this angle, this album is captivating not only for its great musicality and listening pleasure but also because it provides incisive impressions of the exciting development of the early bossa scene.

Recording: September 1967 at Van Gelder’s Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., USA by Rudy Van Gelder / Production: Creed Taylor