lyric for 'Samba by the sea' from CD booklet
Diana Clark has been my go-to Brazilian vocal specialist ever since I first heard her and Doug De Vries live on the PBS FM Saturday morning Jazz show way back in 2003. At the time I was looking out for someone to sing on ‘St Tropez’ (my second album, released in 2004), and she knocked me out with her sultry low register, great control and a musicality based on a heartfelt love of Brazilian music. She and Doug have spent extensive time in Brazil and are well connected and respected both there and back here in Australia. The ‘St Tropez’ recording was a learning experience for both of us… I was initially thinking of a Segio Mendez 1960′s style multi-tracked unison sound, to be used only as an adjunct to the guitar melody. But when Diana came up with some great harmony parts and I found her vocals added so much I felt I should feature her on the three tracks she sang on…’St Tropez’, ‘Dream’ & ‘If not for freedom’. Diana followed this on my 2007 release ‘Dance with a flower in your hair’ with equally great performances on ‘Sensual’, ‘Wine of Tuscany’ (for which she also wrote an excellent lyric) and ‘On gossamer wings’ as well as on four other tracks including a fabulous and fun duet with Rob Price on the title track ‘Dance with a flower in you’re hair’.
So in what has become normal procedure I looked to her again for my new album, and especially for this track; ‘Samba by the sea’.
My inspiration for this song was a fantastic documentary I saw on SBS TV, about the old style Samba Schools that made up the famous Rio carnival back in the 50′s and 60′s, when the rhythm was much slower and the melody more prominent than in today’s frenetic drum based style. In the SBS doco surviving members of one great old school were together for a party, high up in the favellas, to reminisce, have a few drinks and sing some of the old songs one more time. This was cut with archival footage from the good old days, and I found it very beautiful and very moving. Once again the theme of time passing makes itself felt on this record…
And once again my initial idea, which was to have Diana and my voice in unison, had to change when I heard how great she sounded by herself, though I have kept my voice in a couple of bits. The altogether different vocal sound of Mei Lai Swan I found perfect for adding a more vintage element in the backing vocals parts. My usual bevy of guitars, all classical nylon strings appropriately, are joined by a very latin and lively electric base part from Steve Hadley, excellent drums from Tony Floyd and percussion from Denis Close and the horn section of Andrew Hammond, Bruce Sandell and Craig Pilkington to round out the ensemble.