Search - Maucha Adnet :: The Jobim Songbook

Authentic and original interpretations

viktor_57 | Fairview, Your Favorite State, USA | 06/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Antonio Carlos Jobim, along with João Gilberto, defined and popularized modern Brazilian music and bossa nova in particular with internationally popular songs like "The Girl from Ipanema". Celebrated in his native Brazil--the international airport in Rio de Janeiro is named after him (incidentally, how enlightened and civilized a gesture is that, to publicly honor the artist in this way rather than the politician, for how often does the politician--a public servant at best and a debilitating parasite at worst--inspire what is truly good and unifying in men and women rather than their basest and divisive prejudices?)--and universally recognized as one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jobim combined elements of samba and jazz with his own, sinuous melodies and lambent harmonies on top of the easy sway of bossa nova to give us not only a shimmering and sophisticated sound, but a feeling that we now associate with Brazilian music.



Maucha Adnet toured with Jobim in the final decade of his life, recording Grammy-winning works like "Antonio Brasileiro", and on this disc interprets many of Jobim's most popular works--including "Garota de Ipanema", "Corcovado", "Chega de Saudade", and "Desafinado"--accompanied by Joe Lovano on saxophone, Randy Brecker and Claudio Roditi on flugelhorn, and the always brilliant (or should I say Brazilliant) Trio de Paz: guitarist Romero Lumambo, Duduka Da Fonseca on drums, and bassist Nilson Matta. Adnet sings Jobim with such ease she seems, at times, to be casually speaking rather than singing, despite the sometimes tricky cross rhythms. But Adnet is never less than musical and always Brazilian, as are the other musicians, and together they convey not only the notes and rhythms of Jobim, but his easy sophistication and exquisite feeling as well. Though Jobim was himself often recorded, the continued reinterpretation of his works by artists who are his direct musical descendents insures that the bossa nova tradition he started will continue and grow in this new century, providing the next generation of musicians a source of inspiration in a direct line from the composer himself."

Unimpressive performance

Bernard Show | Aguadilla-PR | 08/18/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"While listening to a recently purchased CD [CD Title:"Unknown"] by Maestro Jobim and a group of his friends I found the name of Ms. Maucha Adnet and saw a couple of photos of her with the Maestro and the recording group for his CD. I found that this lady had recorded a couple of CD's on Jobim's music and due to the fact that I own most of Jobim's music and CD's of his music, simply because I love his music, I decided to buy Ms. Adnet's "The Jobim Songbook". This CD has thirteen of Jobim's very well known beautiful songs and music.



Unfortunately, Ms. Adnet's singing is poor. Well I am just a music collector and play the piano and guitar as a student for several years-- that does not make me an expert, of course--but I have been collecting music for 51 years and have a considerable collection of LP's and now CD's and it is the first time I hear a beautiful lady--there is a photo of Ms. Adnet on the CD cover--trying to sing Jobim's songs without success. The maestro participates in singing in one song in the CD although no credit is given; I suppose this was an overdubbing due to the fact that the CD was recorded in 2004 and Jobim passed away in 1994. I was surprised that a producer might invest funds in a very professional group of excellent musicians to accompany someone with such small singing capabilities. Then I read in the limited information "booklet" that came in with the CD, that she produced this CD along with another lady. Well, Oh, well...



Ms. Adnet singing is hardly listenable due to her very low volume level, she has problems with timing the lyrics into the music, I do not think that this is a new mode of singing. Is it? She also seems to go out of key [¿"Desafinada"?]sometimes. When I heard the first few songs I had to go and look at her CD photo; her voice sounded as that of an older lady, but then I told myself, "Well, that's her tone of voice, what's the problem with her low tone voice?". Problem is that, if she has the capabilities for singing...they are very well hidden, and then she should go to a good teacher and evaluate her --not everyone has the ability for singing--and, perhaps, teach her how to sing.



I do not want to be unfair; I am sincere in evaluating this CD of Ms. Maucha Adnet. I am giving two stars to this CD due to the excellent musicians who must have had some challenges trying to follow Ms. Adnet's "singing". I do not think I will buy a second CD of her.



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