Gifted his first saxophone by his aunt at the age of fourteen, only four years later the inherently gifted and determined young musician Victor Assis Brasil recorded his debut album, with a second to follow only a year later. The prodigious young carioca was subsequently granted a place to study at Berklee College of Music, where he played alongside the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Chick Corea and Ron Carter. It was also during this period he recorded Esperanto and Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim with Roberto Quartin, upon returning to Brazil in the summer of 1970.
Recorded in the same sessions as the Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim album, Esperanto consists of some of Assis Brasil's most mesmerising original compositions, as well as a heavy-swinging latin-jazz cover of Jimmy Heath’s ‘Ginger Bread Boy’. 'Quarenta Graus A Sombra’ typifies Assis Brasil's wild, frenetic jazz sound, while ‘Marilia’ and ‘Ao Amigo Quartin’ provide more melancholic moments. Esperanto’s influences span both American continents, finding a meeting point for Latin jazz and North American post-bop, with Roberto Quartin’s perfectionist approach to sound elevating the already incandescent music to divine new heights. The band consists of some mercurial greats of Brazilian music: Dom Salvador (bass), Edison Machado (drums), Helio Delmiro (guitar) and Edson Lobo (Bass).
On Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim, Victor Assis Brasil morphed Jobim’s soothing originals into raw, deep jazz cuts: a product of its time as the smooth 'n' easy groove of the bossa beat no longer reflected the politics of a nation under the cosh of military dictatorship.
Victor Assis Brasil passed away aged just thirty-five, due to a rare circulatory disease, but by this point his status was already cemented as one of the most talented musicians in Brazil’s history.
*The CD and digital product is a double album release, containing both Esperanto and Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim.
1. Ginger Bread Boy 06:14
2. Children 10:16
3. Marilia 06:44
4. Quarenta Graus A Sombra 09:12
5. Ao Amigo Quartin 05:07
6. So Tinha De Ser Com Voce 04:01
7. Wave 09:49
8. Bonita 06:39
9. Dindi 05:04
10. Marilla (Alternative Version) 07:52
11. Ao Amigo Quartin (Alternative Version) 07:51
