Da Licenca Men Senhor

AMG Review of Da Licenca Men Senhor

Alvaro Neder
All Music Guide

Joăo Bosco is an excellent samba composer/singer/violonista. In some of his previous albums he made some attempts to reach a wider audience, which resulted in some watered-down pop albums with excessive keyboarding. Here he returns to his origins: strong melodies and his firm rhythmic grip backed by an economic set of excellent musicians. The album opens with the samba "Pagodespell" with special guest Martinho da Vila. Follows the baiăo "Forró em Limoeiro," with a juicy accordion solo by Sivuca. Then "Se vocę jurar," timely recovery of an old samba jewel by Ismael Silva and Nilton Bastos (Francisco Alves also signs the authorship, but because he used to buy them). "Pai grande" is a change of pace, where the Milton Nascimento song receives a deep rendition based on voice/violăo/bass. "O vento" is a creative, almost only instrumental recreation of a Caymmi song. Bosco also covers other delicious classics by Tom Jobim, the master of the gafieiras Severino Araújo, the genius Noel Rosa, the also genius Villa-Lobos, Ary Barroso and many other giants. In spite of not being representative of Bosco's biggest hits, the album is a must have.