UK’s Mr Bongo reissues two essential Brazilian gems

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UK’s Mr Bongo reissues two essential Brazilian gems

For over the past 30 years, the Brighton-based record shop and label Mr Bongo have been at the forefront of reissuing rare Brazilian gems from the past, from their Brazil 45 series to full-length albums, notably Arthur Verocai’s 1972 self-titled “holy grail”. Over the last month, they have recently added two more must-own releases to the list in Minas‘ 1983 private press bossa nova recording Num Dia Azul, and Mário Castro Neves and his group, Samba S. A.‘s 1967 breezy samba self-titled classic.

Minas – ‘Num Dia Azul’
(Originally released: 1983 / Blueazul Records)
(Reissued: 2023 / Mr Bongo)

Recorded in North Carolina just after Patricia and Orlando Haddad had graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts, this incredible 7-track recording brilliantly mixes the sounds of bossa nova, jazz, MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) and lush vocals. Even though the recording took place in the U.S., the album was only released for the Brazilian market on the group’s own Blueazul Records imprint. As with most private press labels, they could only afford to have it pressed in small quantities. To add to its later obscurity, hundreds of copies were also destroyed in a house fire. Superb from start to finish, some of the notable tracks include the dancefloor-friendly title track “Num Dia Azul”, the cosmic groover “Samba Walk”, an impressive rendition of the Brazilian standard “So Danço Samba”, and the laid-back cut “Canção Da Chuva”.

Num Dia Azul (In A Blue City)
Sinal Verde (Green Light)
So Danço Samba (I Only Dance the Samba)
Calma Mulher (Cool It Woman)
Canção Da Chuva (Song of the Rain)
Samba Walk
Choro Sambaião

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Mário Castro Neves & Samba S. A. — s/t
(Originally released: 1967 / RCA)
(Reissued: 2023 / Mr Bongo)

Led by Brazilian composer, pianist and producer, Mário Castro Neves, his superb self-titled recording blends together 60s bossa nova with jazz, samba, sublime vocal harmonies, and some sunshine drenched easy listening moments. The album also features some jazz dancefloor primed material, including “Nanã”, and the classic song “Candomblé”, which is a Rebirth Jazz favorite and was famously sampled by Cut Chemist on his track “Povo De Santo”.