PILANTROCRACIA / Os Pilantrocratas

Whatmusic.com presents ‘Pilantrocracia’, a psychedelic latin & tropicalia workout from Paulo Moura & friends on the classic Equipe label!

* First ever worldwide release!
* Tracks include club killer ‘O Mandrake’, ‘La Mentira’ & Antonio Adolfo’s ‘Ana Cristina’
* Features Oderdan (Banda Black Rio), Wagner Tiso & Pascoal Meirelles
* Exclusive new liner notes

Check the 30 second clips from the album…

01 LA CUMPARSITA 1:46
02 EL RELICÁRIO 2:27
03 O MANDRAKE 3:05
04 TEREZINHA DE JESUS 3:05
05 LA MENTIRA 2:45
06 TUDO AZUL 3:21
07 CHIRIBIRIBIN 2:40
08 BARRIL DE CHOPP 2:50
09 CORRENTEZA 2:50
10 O ÉBRIO 2:50
11 MEIA VOLTA (ANA CRISTINA) 3:10
12 ROSA 3:04

The whatmusic.com interview…

the pilantocracy!

Os Pilantrocratas is a real rarity from a time when improvising musicians were finding fewer and fewer ‘straight’ gigs and the only way to survive was to get radical. This was something that happened the world over and jazz musicians who just a few short years earlier were playing standards to an appreciative audience had to find new ways of keeping playing (and of getting paid!). In Britain many great jazz players went into the studios to supply ‘breaks’ on pop records or to record library music. On the West Coast the brightest and best joined the Hollywood system, whilst on the East Coast they recorded pop soul albums. In Brazil, many improvisers had gone totally pop, like Antonio Adolfo, who was playing and composing in a style that bore no relation to his earlier piano trios. Cesar Camargo Mariano, who’d once recorded Brazilian jazz with his Octet, was now backing crossover singers like Wilson Simonal and Evinha. And Paulo Moura – the pre-eminent saxophonist of his generation – took a break from recording pure jazz to make this totally ‘out there’ LP with fellow jazz musicians Wagner Tiso, Oberdan Magalhaes and Pascoal Meirelles amongst others.

‘Pilantragem’ was a musical movement in late 60s Brazil that mixed every kind of influence imaginable – from British pop to Tin Pan Alley and from Carmen Miranda to James Brown. The name ‘pilantragem’ literally means ‘piracy’ and the cover of this LP accurately reflects the pop art sensibilities of the time.

‘Pilantrocacia’ is a product of its times – energetic, confusing, risk-taking, funky and at times plain crazy!

The line up is basically the same group that recorded ‘Paulo Moura Hepteto’ on Equipe a couple of years earlier and consists of:-

Paulo Moura – already a musician of some stature in Brazil by the time that the bossa nova phenomenon occurred, and, as such, was in a prime position to take part in the new experimental groups that were mixing bossa nova with the sound of American jazz from the 60s, such as Os Gatos and Os Catedráticos. Moura played with Sergio Mendes in a group that did exactly that and was part of the famous Cannonball Adderley Sextet in NY. He also played on countless record sessions where there was a need for improvised solos, however short. But Moura’s twin loves of jazz and Brazilian popular music (later to be heard in his almost complete transition to a player of folkloric ‘choros’) reached their apogee in the few recordings that he made for the tiny, but highly influential Equipe label during the second half of the 1960s.

Wagner Tiso was part of the emerging scene in Belo Horizonte with the group Sambacana. On this LP he shows early promise of his later work as one of the mainstays of Milton Nascimento’s Clube de Esquina group. Although best known for the latter, Tiso has often returned to record and play improvised music.

Oberdan Magalhães was one of the most in demand session players in the late 60s and went on to be a creative force in the emergent Black Rio scene, before gaining international fame as the founder of Banda Black Rio.

Pascoal Meirelles started out as a drummer in the many instrumental groups playing informally in Rio in the late 60s, had already recorded with Paulo Moura (see ‘Paulo Moura Quarteto’ WMLP-0032) and later formed the fusion group Cama de Gato.

Percussionist Mailto Correa, who later moved to the USA where he recorded with singer/songwriter John Prine, the great Jon Lucien and Etta James as well as with the Tony Williams/Ray Manzarek/Larry Carlton project The Golden Scarab.

Cesario Constancio Gomes is a well known slide trombonist and latterly part of the Rio Jazz Orchestra.

Darcy da Cruz, the trumpeter on this date is currently the leader of a project called Jovens Unidos to help impoverished kids to play Brazilian music as well as playing with fusion group Cata Luzes.

Luiz Carlos on bass rounds off the group along with second trumpet Heraldo Reis, these days with the Orquestra do Teatro Municipal.

Original Liner Notes

Paulo Moura is one of the greatest exponents of Brazilian modern pop music. We’re talking about a musician who is highly respected by his colleagues and greatly admired by those who hear him play. But there’s no need for any more eulogies for this great professional than we’ve already given here. This is his third work for the Equipe label. ‘Paulo Moura Hepteto’ was the first, ‘Paulo Moura Quarteto’, the second.

Pilantrocracia can be described as the ‘Power of Pilantragem’. Those who exercise this power therefore are the Pilantocracy. Without too much fanfare, let’s just say that we dealing with an entity made up of the most talented Brazilian musicians of today, who are able to give a definitive form and sonority to a musical process that’s currently very much in vogue.

Working from a standpoint of musical evolution they have brought about a truly admirable work, which includes amongst others, ‘El Relicário’, ‘Ana Cristina (Meia Volta)’, ‘La Cumparsita’, ‘O Ébrio’ and the traditional ‘Barril de Chopp’ (‘Roll Out the Barrel’). If in ‘El Relicário’ one experiences all the colour and excitement of an afternoon at the bullfight, don’t be surprised if in ‘Barril de Chopp’ one picks up on all the ambience of an immense pub crawl by the greatest of beer drinkers.

Os Pilantrocratas bring an enjoyable sense of participation in a scene in not to be ashamed of, but on the contrary one that’s super hot, and in which you will lament not having taken part.

Dispel any thoughts therefore of prejudice, just put the record on the turntable and tune in to today’s Pilantocracy.

Congratulations to you, dear Pilantrocratas!

Humberto Reis

Producer: Oswaldo Cadaxo
Arrangements: Paulo Moura & Wagner Tiso
Musical Director: Paulo Moura
Assistants –
Engineer: Alberto Soluri
Musical: Maestro Zacarias
Recording: Walter de Oliveira
Mastering Engineer: Ary Perdigão
Cover Art: Michel Gantus

Trumpets: Darcy da Cruz & Heraldo Reis
Saxes: Oberdan Magalhães & Paulo Moura
Trombone: Césario Constancio
Piano & Organ: Wagner Tiso
Bass: Luiz Carlos
Drums: Pascoal Meirelles
Tumbadora: Mailto

CEDARed by Sean ‘Big P’ Pennycook
Mastered by Ricardo Garcia at Magic Master Rio de Janeiro July 2002

Special thanks to Durval Ferreira & Américo