Marcos Valle: Braziliance!

First released in 1966 on Warner Bros., Marcos Valle's third album was his debut US release. An instrumental set, it is packed (if a 29-minute album can be so described) of great tunes composed by Valle with his brother Paulo. Like Antonio Carlos Jobim's own-name US debut, The Composer Of Desafinado Plays (Verve, 1963), another instrumental set, Braziliance was likely conceived as a showcase for the brothers' songwriting, with a view to generating covers by US artists. Valle plays understated piano and guitar and is often submerged beneath the florid big-band-plus-strings arrangements of Eumir Deodato. Only the quality of the compositions saves the disc from being tagged easy listening.

Bossa nova completists will welcome the reissue. It is interesting to have instrumental versions of "Samba De Verao" and "Seu Encanto," here retitled "So Nice" and "The Face I Love," and "Dorme Profundo," three standout tracks from Valle's second album, O Compositor E O Cantor (Odeon, 1965). Also included is the original version of the subsequently much covered "Os Grilos," here retitled "Crickets Sing For Anamaria," which Valle did not record with vocals until 1968, when it was included on his on Summer Samba (Verve). The version here has one of Deodato's more nutritious arrangements and was a modest hit when released as a single.