Edison Machado is the unsung hero of bossa nova. While the contributions of Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto to the development of Brazilian music are rightly celebrated, he falls by the wayside. In the 1950s, the drummer invented the »samba no prato« technique, in which he played the rhythm on the cymbal instead of the snare drum. In the 1960s, Machado became a star in Brazil. In the 1970s, persecuted by the Brazilian military dictatorship, he fled into exile in New York. There he formed the short-lived band Boa Nova with Brazilian and American musicians, which recorded exactly one album in 1978. It remained unreleased for decades and is now being released under the title »Edison Machado & Boa Nova«.
The fusion of samba and hard bop, of North American and South American jazz traditions on »Edison Machado & Boa Nova« is not a cultural-romantic gimmick, but a matter of course. With Paulinho Trompete (flugelhorn, trumpet), Ion Muniz (tenor saxophone), Steve Sacks (baritone saxophone), Mozar Terra (piano) and Ricardo dos Santos (bass), the band consists of outstanding musicians who, despite their technical perfection, are able to give the songs soul. The saxophones and the trumpet are mutually exhilarating, which on some tracks ends in a real frenzy.
