Um Violão na Madrugada + Apresentando Baden Powell e seu Violão

This Baden Powell is not to be mistaken with the British founder of the Boy Scouts Association who went by the same name; the Brazilian guitarist's father was a self-confessed admirer of Powell. Born in the region of Varre-Sai, Rio de Janeiro, the guitarist would turn out to be one of the most highly praised musicians to lend his vision to traditional styles such as samba, choro and baião. He also established a crucial collaboration with Vinicius de Moraes creating a great number of sambas with a pronounced African influence.

But Powell's world was way broader than the already vast Brazilian musical landscape. That not only meant that jazz could find its way into his tunes, but also that Paris would turn out to be the right place to build his career. When he relocated to France in 1968, he had already recorded Apresentando Baden Powell and Um Violão na Madrugada, his first two albums, where it was instantly clear through tracks like ‘Samba Triste’ and ‘Na Baixa do Sapateiro’ that he always thought of Brazil's popular genres as a springboard for his own particular style – sometimes not that distant from what a Latin American Django Reinhardt might have sounded like. But it's when he embraces a more effervescent Brazilian sound, such as on the track ‘Lição de Baião’, that things really get interesting.