Light as a Feather

You’ll find slapped bass, synthesizers and even (whisper it) synth-drums on this reissue. But you’ll also find memorable compositions, soaring melodies and some very funky Brazilian beats. Azymuth was a little band with a big sound. Sadly the trio’s composer, keyboard player and guiding light, José Roberto Bertrami, died last year. When this album came out in 1979, it sold half a million copies around the world and anyone who ever set foot on a dance floor at the time will certainly remember the disco/fusion smash ‘Jazz Carnival. Though whether anyone but an inveterate dancing fool could take, at a single session, the three versions of this behemoth offered here is a moot point. Otherwise, you couldn’t quibble with the job Far Out has done. The digital sound is a joy: the beautiful ‘Partido Alto’ and the beguiling ‘Young Embrace’ sound even better than when the stylus first hit the microgroove all those years ago. There is an additional track (‘O Pescador’) that would have sounded great on the original LP.

Of course, music fashions change over the years. Light as a Feather is still redolent of its era and won’t be to everyone’s taste. But it has stood the test of time better than contemporaries such as Chick Corea’s Return to Forever. Fans of the band and aficionados of classic Brazilian jazz/fusion will welcome this reissue with open arms.