Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Selebrating Summer Solstice

Summer is officially here.  My Summer muSic of choiSe is definitely Brazilian and Smooth Jazz.   Especially the old Stuff by Sergio MendeS which expreSSeS the Sultry Sensuality that I aSSociate with Summer:  Sun, Sand, Salt water and Skin.  Maybe even add Sweat.  Definitely add Sex.  Brazilian Samba Sounds exSite me.  Make me pine for romanSe and hot male bodieS.  Even when Sexy women Sing the tuneS...

I was introduced to Sergio Mendes when I bought an album, In the Brazilian Bag by Sergio Mendes Trio with Wanda DeSah, back in the sixties from those "cut-out bins" often found in in discount stores.

Thing was, when I first heard it, I didn't care for it at all and didn't play it again for several years.  When I picked it up again, probably in the mid seventies, and put it on the stereo, it was like hearing it for the first time.  I was mesmerized.  Wanda sings "Let Me" with that sultry voice on the original Brazilian Bag album before they were called Brazil '66. (but that just got removed from You Tube, so here's Wanda singing "So Nice")

 Wanda DeSah and Sergio "So Nice"


I have to give you a sample of the Portuguese language which is just so sensual: Wanda singing
"Birimbau"


Then there's a "Slow Hot Wind" on the album "Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66"


The album titled "Equinox" has such rhythmic songs as "Chove Chuva (Constant Rain)


And "Cinnamon and Clove" with its beautiful lyrics.


Just to leave Sergio for a moment - Lets not forget the one and only album Soul Flutes:Trust in Me an album put together by various artists including Herbie Mann, Hubert Laws and several others.  Here is "Trust in Me" (not the best quality sound on this one)


But the song I find most sensual and hypnotic, one that whenever I hear it, it remains with me for days and into the nights - one of those songs that I just can't get out of my head - whose lyrics are delicious and the sentiments expressed are sooo fantastical, is "Like A Lover" - the stuff of which daydreams are made. "Oh, How I Dream I Might Be Like the Velvet Moon to You..."


So by now you have an idea of my personal heaven:

After going for a nice refreshing dip in the cool, clear waters off Cape Cod...
lying naked on a dog friendly - but nearly deserted - nude beach*
in the late afternoon on a dry, cloudless Summer day 
with a gentle breeze off the water tempering the heat of the sun
and keeping the sand flies at bay...
listening to a mix of Sergio Mendes and Soul Flutes maybe with a bit of Wes Montgomery thrown in,
and drifting off to that level of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep
while hearing the sound of waves crashing on the shore in the background...drifting...
drifting....

But wait, there's more:
... and after a nice nap, being gently awakened by my lover (hmm...or a maybe a "perfect" stranger)
as he feels my naked (156 pound, 30-year old) body with his hands,
kisses me lightly and pulls me into a sensual tangle of arms and legs and naked torsos...aah...

* Warning: anti-nudity laws being strictly enforced in recent years.
Alas: Tristeza em Mim.
I've always found it interesting that so many Brazilian/Samba songs contain the words Triste or Tristeza  - Sad, Sadness.  I think that all real sensuality has within it, the unconscious realization of the inevitability of death...even while experiencing the joyfulness of life...

Have a marvelous Summer.

11 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...

I too love Sergio Mendes (and Brasil '66). Also loved your little beach fantasy. Your "S" theme reminded me of the "K" theme in the name of Pat's Kountry Kitchen in Connecticut (Konnecticut?), famous for their clam hash (I loved that too).

Stan said...

I started with Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass and the went on to Sergio Mendez and Brasil 66 back then too. Some great music for sure.

Frank said...

It's nice to know the music is still available - on You Tube, iTunes, etc. Nice to re-live the memories.

Anonymous said...

And of course one of my favorite tunes is George Duke's "Brazilian Love Affair". It picks up that rhythm but adds a nice jazzy touch to it.

http://youtu.be/ez-kDq-z8mY

Russ Manley said...

Just to show I'm not prejudiced, I'm listening to one song a day here. Somehow I never got the memo - figures - when all the gay guys were told to switch over from disco to jazz. So I went country, which was a good match with my shitkickers and Wranglers.

Ah but I too recall being 25 and 150 lbs., and surf and sand and sun - and someone tall and tan and lovely . . . . All that was sweet while it lasted.

Memories of a distant summer in golden light. A land of dreams one can never return to.

Enjoy the fantasy.

Frank said...

From clam hash to country music...wow, I don't know what to say...Though I never heard of George Duke, he is obviously a great talent... but possibly not a sound I can drift off to...while entertaining daydreams of beach boys...it is definitely the fantasy that is the motivation for this post...even at (or especially at) my age those fantasies are still vivid. Thanks guys.

Anonymous said...

Oh you could drift off to this one, or at least I could.

http://youtu.be/RImA8glxvH8

Here's another good one from Marcus Miller, Me'shell NdegeOcello called Rush Over

http://youtu.be/r63PfJiEDq4

A little Groove Collective:

http://youtu.be/q7D8r92ftS8

A good cover of an old Beatles tune by Groove Collective, "She's So Heavy"

http://youtu.be/LQYuxrGXzQk

And something completely different with Jazzanova "Let Me Show Ya"

http://youtu.be/qDNdFugsw1o

Frank said...

Thanks, Truth

I liked "Chillin" and the others as well. Now here in central CT all the radio stations are crap. There is not a decent alternative to pop-rock-hip-hop. Even WWUH is inconsistent - too wide a repertoire to keep me on their station. So I keep my car radio on NPR and I don't really get to hear much in the way of good music.

Will start exploring more...

Russ Manley said...

Hey Frank I was checking out the CBC coverage of Canada Day festivities in Ottawa, and happened to hear this young Quebecoise singer, I think you would like her: Florence K (yeah just K).

Check her out on YouTube,she does a bunch of samba songs . . . en francais, naturellement.

Website is florencek.com.

Frank said...

Florence has a lovely voice- in French, Spanish or English. And some nice videos. I kind of like her Spanish stuff...another Canadian whose voice is dynamic is kd Lang especially her rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying"

A total non sequitur: I recall being in Canada on June 30/July 1 a few years ago. Everywhere we saw pick-up trucks with appliances - refrigerators, washers, dryers and couldn't figure out what was going on. We inquired and were told it was "Moving Day" the day everyone's lease runs out.

Russ Manley said...

How funny about the moving day/national holiday combination.

But oh yeah k.d. has an AWESOME voice.

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