Description
- Verve By Request
- Manufactured at Third Man Pressing in Detroit MI
- 180g Audiophile Quality Vinyl
Want to hear where the innovations of bossa nova and MPB met jazz fusion? Look no further than João Donato’s 1970 album A Bad Donato. The record marked a break from Donato’s past. Donato had been working professionally as a musician since the early 1950s, emigrating to the United States in 1959. His 1965 LP The New Sound of Brazil: Piano of João Donato was one of many albums that helped make bossa nova a household word in America. But after almost a decade of living abroad and playing with the likes of Chet Baker, Cal Tjader, and Astrud Gilberto, Donato was growing restless and in desperate need of new musical stimulation. In 1970, he accepted an invite to tour Japan with fellow Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, replacing pianist Osmar Milito. It was during this trip that he captured the attention of Blue Thumb Records’ Bob Krasnow: “Man, when we go back to America I want to do an album with you,” Krasnow told Donato, giving him carte blanche to record whatever he wanted. The result was A Bad Donato.
What you hear on the album is Donatao bringing together everything that he was hearing around him: Bossa nova, samba, Tropicália, lounge, rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelia, funk, and jazz. Recorded at Los Angeles’ A&M Studios, the album benefitted from an impressive group of musicians that included percussionist Dom Um Romão, double bassist Ron Carter, and saxophonist Bud Shank. For the arrangements, Donato recruited samba-jazz musician and producer Eumir Deodato, with whom he would release the collaborative LP Donato/Deodato in 1973.
