Marcos Valle: T​ú​nel Ac​ú​stico

In Túnel Acústico (Acoustic Tunnel), Marcos Valle digs back into the late 1970s, when Brazil was under military rule and he was living in California, working with the likes of Sarah Vaughan and such fellow Brazilian expats as Eumir Deodato and Airto Moreira. Valle grew up in Rio de Janeiro, part of a second generation of bossa nova musicians who had to invent their way through a difficult political climate. He traveled to the US for a tour with Sergio Mendes in 1965 and stayed in LA until '67, collaborating and performing. Saudades for his hometown and trepidations about the war in Vietnam led him back to Rio, where he remained through most of the '70s and had good success writing soap opera soundtracks. Weary of censorship under the military regime, he left the country again in '79, heading back to the Golden State.

Two tracks on Túnel Acústico originate from that time (ca. 1979), anchoring the release: "Life Is What It Is" and "Feels So Good." A demo that Valle and soul songwriter-producer Leon Ware had made of "Feels So Good"—not to be confused with the Chuck Mangione song and album of the same name (A&M Records, 1977)—had been sitting on a shelf in Valle's house for decades. His production crew reconstructed it, plucking out the scratch vocals while preserving Ware's voice on the hook, making room for Valle to insert a new lyric in Portuguese and to overdub more keyboards and percussion. Valle co-wrote "Life Is What It Is" with Brazilian percussionist Laudir de Oliveira, who was with the band Chicago at the time. It appears on Chicago 13 (Columbia Records, 1979), with lyrics by keyboardist Robert Lamm. The album was panned, but the tune was spared the worst, one review calling it among the "few redeeming moments." The composition has become the lead single on Túnel Acústico, in a wordless version with a slightly sprightlier pulse, which still carries the scent and sound of the era.

Túnel Acústico's release coincides with Valle's 81st birthday and celebrates his 42 years as a music maker with a tour of Europe and North America alongside Azymuth, the Brazilian jazz-funk group which—like Valle—has been at it since the early '70s. His ensemble includes bassist Alex Malheiros and drummer Renato Massa—both members of Azymuth—along with percussionist Ian Moreira, guitarist Paulinho Guitarra and trumpeter Jesse Sadoc. To create new pieces for the program, Valle collaborated with lyricists including his brother and frequent songwriting partner Paulo Sergio Valle ("Tem Que Ser Feliz") and celebrated singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno ("Bora Meu Bem"), as well as songsmiths from a younger generation: Moreno Veloso (son of Caetano Veloso) and singer-songwriter CeU.

In the nostalgic mist of a set infused with retro sounds and grooves gone by, Joyce's lyric to "Bora Meu Bem" (Let's Go, My Dear) emerges as a beacon, a subversion of sentimentality, an exhortation to "kick up some dust" and move on. "Let's get on this train," she prods, "let's believe in the dream that failed." Empowered on the bridge by the imposingly churchy sound of an organ, she insists—in Valle's gentle voice—that "looking in the rearview mirror is over," that "now is a time for taking care of what will come." Her words bring us to the present moment of historic natural disasters brought on by greed and the complacency of convenience. "Let's go further" she urges with Valle, raising a call to "reunite what was divided" against a global background of political acrimony, with bullies muscling in to lead by augmenting the discord.