Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves - Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos

The connection between Moacir Santos and the guitar has been on my mind ever since I heard Baden Powell play Moacir Santos's music on the album “Baden Powell swings with Jimmy Pratt.”

I've always loved the rich orchestral sounds of Moacir's compositions but could not imagine how to transfer the large ensemble sound I heard into my solo guitar. Last year, reading Moacir Santos's scores directly from his songbook, I was surprised how perfectly it fit the 7-string guitar, in the original key, as if the music was composed for the instrument.

I spent a year working on that repertoire and when Anat visited Brazil, I proposed that we get together so I could show her the arrangements I’d been working on. The clarinet was Moacir’s first instrument. If his compositions sounded so beautiful on the guitar, I could only imagine how special they would sound played by Anat on the clarinet. Anat proposed meeting directly at a recording studio and so we did. When we started playing, Anat, who has known me for many years, said: “I have never seen you so happy!” I responded: “I’ve never been!” This recording documents those two happy days in the studio.

I hope you enjoy listening to this music as much as we enjoyed playing it.

Marcello Gonçalves, July 2016