![]() Many of Ben's best lyrics are subtle evocations of everyday features of Brazilian life, the "Vendedor de Bananas/Cosa Nostra/Bicho do Mato" medley included here celebrates the humble banana seller, the pretty girls on the beaches in their tangas and the wild animals of the jungle. Still, Brazilians tend to rave more about Ben's folksy and frequently humorous lyrics than his impeccable sense of rhythm or his unerring ear for melody - which, after 13 years of consistently fine work they have come to take for granted. The crisp, swinging born arrangement, complete with jazzy saxophone solo, on "Paz e Arroz" is just one example of his willingness to look beyond Brazil for inspiration. Ben has a sophisticated pop sensibility, and included in many of his songs are not just the samba rhythms popular in Brazil but instrumental touches that are just as common here. The songs are sung in Portuguess, but that shouldn't deter anyone who appreciates beautiful melodies or the caressnes of a gentle voice. A compilation of some of the best songs from his recent Brazilian albums, it is a bright, peppy and infectious record, full of the soothingly seductive vocals and syncopated acoustic guitar playing that characterize the work of the fully mature Jorge Ben. "Samba Nova" (Island ILPS 9361), Ben's first American album in more than a decade, should help bring us up to date. Ben's albums are best-sellers in Brazil, and he's enormously popular in Europe, where he has filled concert halls as large as Paris' Olympia, but here in the States, very little has been heard of him since "Mas Que Nada" - a song he wrote at age 19 and now considers a relic of the bossa nova era. ![]() Up and now, though, Americans haven't had much of a chance to find that out for themselves. Jorge Ben is a guarantee of good samba music. Folks there maintain that "Ben e samba bom" - and they're right. Down in Rio de Janeiro, his home turf, they have a saying about Jorge Ben.
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