Antonio Adolfo E A Brazuca “Antonio Adolfo & A Brazuca” on Odeon

Super funky psych MPB bossa jams from the great “Virulata!” Adolfo (conducting, arranging, random piano, fat synths) and a bevy of gorgeous harmonies from Semiramis Rubim (Bimba) on backing vocals. Slick guitar from Luiz Claudio Ramos (check his entry to the MPBC series) and bass from Luizão Maia (no relation - previously of Formula 7), but really it’s the HEAVY drums of Paulinho Braga (Milton Nas, Airto) who sort of steals the show. In America, this gaggle of Brazilian hippies would have made unbearable rhyming music about miniskirts and fast cars and acid, but in their homeland they’re pure artists who just happen to prefer long hair who have something lovely and positive and endlessly rhythmic to say about the world around them. It seems like Antonio Adolfo is a bit under the radar, at least on this side of the boarder, but he’s right in the Marcos Valle pocket, although harder and funkier. This is jazz and funk and samba and the usual Rio vibe, but really, this beautiful record is all about soul. Yeah, it’s a soul record that hits like plummeting coconut to the peace-lovin noggin. Oh yea!