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Marcos Resende & Index: Marcos Resende & Index

By Chris M. Slawecki
September 10, 2021
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Marcos Resende & Index: Marcos Resende & Index

This debut, eponymous recording by Brazilian keyboard wizard Marcos Resende was recorded in Rio de Janeiro in late summer 1976. This was a truly glorious time for progressive instrumental music in Brazil, as you can hear in the discographies of

Eumir Deodato

keyboards
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Eumir Deodato,

Marcos Valle

multi-instrumentalist
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Marcos Valle,

Airto Moreira

percussion
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Airto Moreira and many other artists.

Resende put together a new quartet, equally adept in jazz and Brazilian rhythms, for these sessions: Rhythm aces Rub?o Sabino (bass) and Claudio Carib�� (drums), plus legendary reedman Oberdan Magalh?es, who was also organizing in Rio the legendary samba-funk

Banda Black Rio

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Banda Black Rio at this time. Resende also recruited session engineer Toninho Barbosa, whose recordings with

Azymuth

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Azymuth (Light as a Feather, Milestone 1979),

João Donato

piano
1934 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Jo?o Donato (Quem ? Quem, Odeon, 1973) and others earned him the title, "the Brazilian

Rudy Van Gelder

various
1924 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Rudy Van Gelder." Even so, Marcos Resende & Index remained unreleased and unheard until this 2021 remastered issue.

With the opening "My Heart," Resende immediately drops you into a liquid, luxurious pond where you bob and float on soft percussion, bass as quick and nimble as a cat, rippling electric keyboards and waves of other exotic sounds. Resende's keyboard solo explores jazz without breaking its deep connection to the Brazilian rhythm, propelled by the percussion percolating underneath.

Marcos Resende & Index builds from this opener into an eight-minute piece ("Pra?a da Alegria"), then a nine-("Nergal") and then ten-minute piece ("Martina"). This masterful sequencing creates a feeling of a genuine musical journey, and of arrival at your destination.

First, Resende blasts off from the crackling bass and percussion opening "Pra?a da Alegria" into an electrifying keyboard solo that freely wheels and deals the galvanizing sound of classic 1970s Brazilian jazz records from

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea,

George Duke

piano
1946 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">George Duke, and other keyboardists. The rhythm section slows the pace just enough for Magalh?es' saxophone to spread sweetness and light like honey on top.

"Nergal" opens like an expansive, wide-open prairie which the leader fills with colorful space-age yet soulful electric jazz sounds spanning from

Soft Machine

band / ensemble / orchestra
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Soft Machine to

Sergio Mendes

piano
1941 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Sergio Mendes to Richard Wright (

Pink Floyd

band / ensemble / orchestra
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Pink Floyd), and then a blast of horns clears out the arrangement for another keyboard solo that sounds more like electric guitar from the

Grover Washington, Jr.

saxophone
1943 - 1999

" data-original-title="" title="">Grover Washington, Jr. soul playbook, the bass and drums click back into their circular rhythm track, and "Nergal" winds down to its stop.

A remarkable arrangement, "Martina" moves through about six different movements in ten minutes. It blossoms into a light but heavily Brazilian groove, with percussion chattering like little woodland creatures hiding in the thicket of the mix, and Resende and Magalh?es respectively rip into keyboard and saxophone solos that fracture and splatter notes like

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett and

Gary Bartz

saxophone, alto
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Bartz barnstorming in one of

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' electric quintets. Magalh?es' flute dances from section to section like a fluttering bird or butterfly—sounding and feeling Light as a Feather.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

My Heart; Nina Nen��m; Pra?a da Alegria; Nergal; Martina; Behind The Moon.

Personnel

Marcos Resende

keyboards

Rubao Sabino

bass

Claudio Caribe

drums

Oberdan Magalhaes

saxophone

Album information

Title: Marcos Resende & Index | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Far Out Recordings

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