Yo Willie etal

[Mugwump]

"...The set opens with the low, simmering "Tereza My Love," with its hushed, elongated trombone lines and shifting acoustic guitars floating on the evening breeze. It begins intimate and ends with a closeness that is almost uncomfortably sensual, even for bossa nova. And then there are the slippery piano melodies Jobim lets roll off his fingers against a backdrop of gauzy strings and syncopated rhythms in both "Choro" and "Brazil." The latter is a samba tune with a sprightly tempo brought to the fore by Jobim's sandy, smoky vocal hovering ghost-like about the instrumental shimmer in the mix. Take, for instance, the title track with its stuttered, near imperceptible percussion laid under a Jobim piano melody of such simplicity, it's harmonically deceptive. It isn't until Lookofsky enters for his solo that you realize just how sophisticated and dense both rhythm and the chromatic lyricism are. The album closes with a reprise of "Brazil," restating a theme that has, surprisingly been touched upon in every track since the original inception, making most of the disc a suite that is a lush, sense-altering mediation, not only on Jobim's music and the portraits it paints, but ON the sounds employed by Taylor to achieve this effect. Stone Flower is simply brilliant, a velvety, late-night snapshot of Jobim at his peak."

Track list

"Tereza my Love" - 0:00

"Children's Games" - 4:24

"Choro" - 7:55

"Brazil"(Ary Barroso) - 10:04

"Stone Flower" - 17:31

"Amparo" - 20:53

"Andorinha" - 24:35

"God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun" - 28:06

"Sabia" - 30:29

"Brazil" [alternate take] - 34:30
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