Reviews page 2

Reviews page 1
The Guardian by John L Walters - 19/11/2004
Time Out by John Lewis - 06/10/2004
BBC News Online by Lara Bellini - 11/2004
Sunday Tribune by Cormac Larkin - 02/01/2005
The Times by Robert Wyatt - 09/09/2005
BBC Brasil article by Ivan Lessa (opens in a new window & in Portuguese)

The Guardian

Despite the name, the music of Mônica Vasconcelos's quartet Nois 4 doesn't grab you with vocal histrionics or thundering riffs. But their album Gente (Candid, 13.99) does things that few other World albums attempt. Each track is distinctive, exploring different aspects of Brazilian rhythm, timbre and melody and wordplay. And Vasconcelos's voice is charming and tuneful, but with an element of reticence and taste you don't expect from a Latin-jazz-fusion frontperson. Vasconcelos has class, but she doesn't make a big deal about being classy.

In some respects she is like a curator of Brazilian music, rediscovering her compatriots' sound and reinterpreting it

in a coolly individual way. Influencia do Jackson, the wordy, high-energy opener is one of two tracks written by Aldir Blanc and special guest Guinga. Vasconcelos's rapid delivery is intense, almost rap-like. The intricate words deal with schools, sexism, football and corruption. Relampiano (by Lenine and Paulo Moska) is about childhood poverty, the story of a child selling chewing gum by urban traffic-lights in the rain, given extra emotional power by Ben Davis's Basquiat Strings and some clever mixing from drummer/producer Chris Wells. Com A Perna No Mundo (by Luiz Gonzaga Jr) has an engaging, rough-hewn choir; Jobim's Cancao Em Modo Menor features Ingrid Laubrock's lovely tenor sax against Davis's poised strings. (Davis plays cello in Laubrock's own band.)

Nois 4's line-up comprises Vasconcelos, Laubrock, Wells and Brazilian guitarist Ife Tolentino. (The original Nois was a nine-piece.) They are based in the UK, but recorded Gente in Brazil, where they recruited musicians such as Guinga (who is returning to tour with them next year) and accordionist Toninho Ferragutti. The album includes folky, Foro-inflected pieces such as Cha de Panela (also by Guinga and Blanc), gentle ballads, sweet waltzes and chilled, spacey grooves such as Leve, with Laubrock on Wayne Shorter-ish soprano sax. (It is not so much that she sounds like Shorter, more that, like him, she avoids playing the bleeding obvious). Nois 4 have made a clever, multi-layered album that grows on you with each listen.

John L Walters - 19/11/2004 - The Guardian

Time Out

When non-Brazilians try to play 'Brazilian music', it's usually jobbing jazz musicians stumbling through the bossa nova, a strain of music that's at least 45years old. It's a bit like a Brazilian band playing the music of, say, Billy Fury and convincing the gig-goers of Rio that it's authentically 'British'.

Sao Paulo's Monica Vasconcelos has sung a fair bit of bossa nova since she relocated to London, but she's also tried to bring UK audiences up to speed withfour decades of Brazilian music from samba jazz to Tropicalia, from maracatu to frevo, from choro to baico. For the past few years she's fronted two bands: Nsis (which translates as 'Us') is her expanded nine-piece; As Meninas ('The Girls') is her pared-down quartet. (She's had to change the name of the latter after learning of a teenie all-girl sextet in Brazil of the same name, hence thenew moniker, Nsis 4. ) A recent extended return to Brazil seems to have worked wonders. The new album, 'Gente' (Candid), sees her largely European band playingnew and classic Brazilian music with a fitting langour and a rare rhythmic

understanding.

German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock is on hand to provide elegant obbligatos (like a Brazilian Paul Desmond), but the quartet are significantly augmented by the remarkable Brazilian guitarist and singer Guinga (also playing this splendidvenue tonight), who should lend this concert a degree of authenticity that Brazilian music often requires.

John Lewis - 06/10/2004 - Time Out

BBC News Online

...brims with a deep love and understanding of Brazilian music...

With their second album NOIS 4 ('Us Four') recount their own poetic tales of Brazil and pay homage to the country's most enduring heritage, the people themselves ('Gente'): Brazilian Music as a popular, collective experience. They've even recorded it in Sao Paulo, to make it as close to the real thing as possible. Brazil comes across in all its warmth, delivered with the lightness of touch that is typical of Nois 4.

Carnivalesque grooves alternate with melancholic songs; original tunes with absolute classics (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes; Chico Buarque). One can dive into "Com a Perna no Mundo", and imagine what it is to be part of a Beija Flor parade (one of Rio's most prominent schools of samba).

With "Chá De Panela", Nois 4 pay homage to Brazilian jazz legend Hermeto Pascoal (listen out for the trademark accordion and triangle; the circular pulse; and a lyrical nod to the very core of the Pascoal philosophy: 'All things are musical'). Their collective journey takes on a more personal hue with "Canto pra Cira". Monica Vasconcelos' voice blossoms with a sweet melancholy in this poignant tribute to her mother.

But it is the presence of guitarist Guinga, a legendary figure of the MPB scene (Brazilian Popular Music) that adds a hefty weight to the ensemble. His love and knowledge of both classic and popular Brazilian musical traditions is a precious gift to NOIS 4's sound. On the other hand, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock's wonderfully subtle soprano tone is worth a mention, as well as her sensitive alto modulations that sweetly interweave with Monica's vocals.

This is an enjoyable album that brims with a love and understanding of Brazilian music.

Lara Bellini - 11/2004 - BBC News Online

Sunday Tribune

Vocalist Monica Vasconcelos is the driving force behind 'Us Four', but the real star on their second album is Guinga, the great Brazilian guitarist and composer, who contributes tunes and his impeccable groove to this celebration of Brazilian music and people. Though Nois 4 are London-based, this was recorded in Sao Paulo and also features saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and accordionist Toninho Ferragutti. The tunes are a combination of originals, including a tribute to the great composer Hermeto Pascoal. The aural equivalent of the sun on your face, and an antidote to SAD.

Cormac Larkin - 02/01/2005 - Sunday Tribune

The Times

Every week, a star gets to fly the flag for an obscure masterpiece. Come in, Robert Wyatt, on Nois 4's Gente:

"It's from this century, and I know they're based in London. Nois 4's singer is called Monica Vasconcelos and she's very good-looking, which I honestly didn't know when I bought it -the cover is a pair of peasant's feet. That's very Brazilian. They continued the hippy idealism in a left-leaning, innocent way that didn't happen anywhere else."

"If you don't like Astrud Gilberto, you won't like this. That was the pop music I listened to before I got into black American music. I was just hitting puberty when Girl from Ipanema came out so, well...blimey. But I prefer Nois 4. It's more traditional, terrific percussion and a splendid string quartet. Also it doesn't have that Stan Getz heavy breathing, sleazy sax sound which reminds one of tourists going around a red-light district. Ingrid Laubrock plays the soprano sax very well. She just chooses the good notes, like Wayne Shorter, really fresh."

"I love music in other languages, especially Portuguese because it's an archaic, slightly awkward language."

Robert Wyatt - 9/9/2005 - The Times