CREED'S HACIENDA

Stone Flower
Antonio Carlos Jobim

Creed Taylor produced some of Anotnio Carlos Jobim's best albums, including the classics Wave and Tide. Stone Flower is something of a lost classic, available only as an import until its remastering and reissue as part of this CTI initiative. The musicians are particularly sympathetic to Jobim's delicate compositions, and fellow Brazilian Eumir Deodato (who would later score CTI's biggest hit with his funky "Also Spake Zarathustra") provides lovely arrangements. Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Urbie Green, Ron Carter, and Airto Moreira all make important contributions to the album. Green's solos are particularly lovely on "Tereza My Love" while Farrell provides major atmospherics on "God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun".

Jobim himself provides smooth and subtle guitar and piano work (including some rare electric piano contributions) as well as his trademark dry and hoarse vocals. What sets Stone Flower apart (and has probably kept it a well kept secret for so long) is that it lacks any of Jobim's extremely well known trademark compositions-there's no "Wave", "Corcovado" or "Girl from Impanema". However, the songs are in many ways more of a piece than on other Jobim recordings. If Wave and Tide were largely held together by hit singles, then Stone Flower is Jobim's Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper--a loosely held together song cycle that is not entirely bossa but that nonetheless conveys a mood and feeling that is unique in modern popular music as well as in jazz.