Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » The View From Madeleine's Couch: Tranquilo

167

The View From Madeleine's Couch: Tranquilo

The View From Madeleine's Couch: Tranquilo
Surprises abound in this delightful Brazilian album from an Australian group with the unlikely moniker of The View From Madeleine's Couch. It is also reasonable to expect that you won't be able to find this in your favorite music store filed properly unless some sharp-eyed employee was able to make the proper categorization.

The group consists of singer/percussionist Anje West and vibraphonist/percussionist/arranger Kym Ambrose. They are supported by guitar, rhythm section and occasional string quartet. Five of these ten tracks are originals and all but one are in Portugeuse. The View From Madeleine's Couch does a convincing job of sounding very much like home-grown Brazilians and there is no clue that the recording took place halfway around the world from Rio. The group's inspiration for this album was a 2004 visit to Brazil.

The music includes songs from the pens of Djavan, Jobim/Chico Buarque and the most durable tune, "Berimbau" was written by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes. The sole English language, "Laze Away" was composed by Ambrose and West. The attractive and largely up-tempo sambas are further enlivened by the energetic vibraphone playing of Kym Ambrose whose multi-mallet work places this firmly in a jazz bossa setting.

Track Listing

Historia do Samba, Nossa Familia, Berimbau, Anos Dourados, Cancao do Sereia, Samba do Mar, Laze Away, Eu So Quero Um Xodo, Parati, Fato Consumado.

Personnel

Kym Ambrose, vibraphone, tambourine; Anje West, vocals, triangle, surdo, shakers, guiro, wood blocks with Owen Newcomb or Helen Russell,bass; Mark Henman or Joe Marchisella,drums; Jamie Clark,guitar String Quartet: Eugenie Costello, Shenton Gregory,violin; Danielle Bentley, cello; Dave Collins, viola; John Stefulj,flute; Kym Ambrose,string arrangements

Album information

Title: Tranquilo | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: The View From Madeleine's Couch

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.