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FARO 193CD
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Throughout her 50 year career as one of Brazil's most brilliantly imaginative artists, Joyce Moreno has thrived artistically in consistently undertakes new challenges. In the '70s, she provoked controversy for singing in first-person feminine voice (never before attempted by any of the very few female songwriters in Brazil at the time) and her lyrics defied the censorship attempts of the Brazilian military dictatorship. After something of an epiphany, with Cool, Joyce has finally agreed to take on a challenge repeatedly asked of her for the last two decades. Moreno explains: "For over 20 years I've been requested to make an album with North American jazz standards. Nothing against it, but I always said no. I had the strange feeling that such an album would look weird in my discography, too commercial - like I didn't have any new tricks up my sleeve, and yes, I always have plenty. Music has never ceased to bless me with new ideas and new tunes. So why on Earth should I embark on such a trip? The answer came to me during a sound check when I started playing, just for fun, a Cole Porter song in a different way. The song was 'Love For Sale' - a song about a demimondaine, a hooker, in short. But then this afoxê groove came up, and, all of a sudden, Cole Porter's call girl became a hooker from Bahia. And I thought, 'man, these tunes can be rearranged and be really fun!' To play these tunes with my guitar, re-harmonize them, find their possible different grooves, and make them mine. Not just turn them into 'Brazilian bossas'... There is also one original tune only here: my jazzy samba 'Mingus, Miles & Coltrane', a tribute to three of my personal jazz heroes, who inspired me a lot since I was a kid. Coltrane is also remembered here in my arrangement for 'My Favorite Things', inspired by his classic recording, but mixed with an improvised Jobim quote in the end." In typical Joycean style, Cool emits immense musical dexterity coupled with a powerfully human essence to her sound, bringing an entirely original spirit to these canonical standards.
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FARO 184CD
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2015 release. Raiz marks fifty years of Joyce Moreno's imperative involvement in Brazil's rich musical heritage: paying tribute to some of the beautiful Brazilian standards she was listening to around the time she first stepped foot in a recording studio. Joyce's insurmountable talent and unfaltering grace shine as bright as ever on this landmark record. In 1964, Joyce, aged 15, first stepped into a professional recording studio. Her older brother, also a musician, was a member of Rio's early bossa nova clique: a good friend of Eumir Deodato, Luis Carlos Vinhas and Roberto Menescal (by this point, a notable name in Brazil). Finding a private, home tape recording of Joyce playing guitar and singing, Joyce's brother played it to Roberto Menescal. When Joyce returned home from school to find her secret song exposed, she ran to her room, slammed the door and cried for the rest of the day. But a month later, she received a call from Menescal, asking if she wanted to sing on a record he was producing: an album called Sambacana (1981), featuring the music of a little known composer from the state of Minas Gerais. Joyce excitedly accepted and took her first step into a recording studio, where she realized what she was capable of and what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. It seemed only fitting to Joyce to reciprocate Roberto Menescal's invitation into the studio and Menescal features on Joyce's versions of his '60s bossa classics "O Barquinho" and "Nós E O Mar". Raiz also features a host of extremely distinguished Brazilian musicians: Tutty Moreno (drums), Helio Alves (piano) and Rodolfo Stroeter (bass). Joyce's celebrated and undeniably distinctive approach to the music of fabled artists such as Tom Jobim, Baden Powell, Ildasio Tavares, Vinicius de Moraes, Ronaldo Boscoli and of course Roberto Menescal, among other Brazilian greats, makes Raiz a truly momentous piece of Brazilian musical history.
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FARO 163CD
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2012 release. Joyce presents a beautifully intimate acoustic ode to her city Rio - returning to her carioca roots with effortless guitar, Brazilian rhythms and unique scatting vocals. Joyce on the album: "In the summer of 2010, I was invited by the city of Rio to present a solo show on Ipanema beach. It was intended as a sort of luau for people leaving the beach, with just voice and guitar. I threw a sundress over my swimsuit, flip-flops on my feet, coconut water within easy reach, and there I was. The sea of people, both locals and tourists, on the sand; the presence of friends who, like me, grew up on that stretch of beach; giving joy to so many made the show one of the happiest I'd ever given. Seeing all those people singing with me the city's anthem, 'Cidade Maravilhosa,' was priceless. This CD was born when the sun sank behind the Dois Irmãos hill, and the crowd applauded as we had done so many years ago. A crowd that applauds a simple sunset must be very good folk. Rio - the mountain, the sun and the sea - where I make my samba simply." Joyce's seventh original recording for Far Out Recordings, Rio de Janeiro, combines Joyce's Brazilian rhythms (partido alto to samba), jazz and bossa harmonies and intelligent lyrics through her beautifully expressive voice on special original compositions - new and old - alongside unique versions of classic Brazilian songs from greats including Tom Jobim and Caetano Veloso. A wonderful mood floats through fifteen tracks to recreate the special atmosphere of the "Rio" show. Joyce is one of Brazil's most internationally acclaimed artists recording her debut album in 1968 as the first Brazilian female voice to speak from a feminist perspective. She has since gone on to issue more than 20 solo albums.
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FARO 173CD
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2013 release. Tudo is Joyce's first studio album in a decade formed entirely of the Brazilian icon's original compositions. Tudo - meaning "everything" in Portuguese - showcases Joyce's remarkable vocals, which gently float over the classic genres of Brazilian music. This charming and captivating record amalgamates the sounds that personify Brazil and celebrates the talent of one of its most passionate voices, described as "one of the greatest singers of all time" by the legendary Tom Jobim. With the vibrant and contagious swing of the opening track "Quero Ouvir João", the delicious rhythm of a train crossing the country in "Boiou", the romantic broken hearted sounds of "Sem Poder Dançar" and the delicate harmonies of "Claude Et Maurice", Joyce creates an effervescent trip that makes this album unique. Since the beginning of her musical adventures, in her warm hometown, Rio de Janeiro, Joyce, then only 16 years old, already demonstrated an amazing talent. In 1980 she released her breakthrough album Feminina, where she portrayed the multiple facets of women, with defying lyrics and infatuating voice that catapulted her to stardom in Brazil and around the world. Since then, she's been recording and touring, building an astonishing 44 years career that shows no sign of slowing down and gives us another beautiful work of art with Tudo. Tudo was recorded in Biscoito Fino Studios in Rio de Janeiro in March of 2012, co-produced by Joyce and her long time life partner Tutty Moreno, here also responsible for the drums and percussion. This project also features Mauricio Maestro on vocal arrangements.
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