I wish I knew Portuguese to get this even more. That thought has occurred more generally before. I love the sound of it. And I love the sound of Joyce Moreno and of bossa nova. Feminina is the album of the icon’s I like most. But I have not explored enough of her back catalogue to know more than that classic. She’s perfect not so much for a rainy day listen but instead the sort of one when you need inspiration. So this is welcome. I started thinking of Rosa Passos and Amorosa a bit also when listening. Never Too Soon isn’t on that high mountain of achievement. But it still reaches thinner oxygen levels. Moreno is more maverick and that is one of her super powers.
2023 footage of Joyce singing live at Camden Town’s Jazz Cafe in London, a venue that the Brazilian has appeared at lots down the years
You look to Joyce for a sort of poeticism that many artists want to possess but few really, truly, madly, deeply end up inhabiting. Most of the songs here are in Portuguese, the title track however is in English. The 78 year old Rio born singer, guitarist, arranger, leader is with her husband Tutty on drums and percussion, bassist Jorge Helder, guitarist Lula Galvão and keyboardist Marcos Nimrichter plus guests. It’s as laidback as you might easily imagine before playing a single note, stripped back and evocative.
My disadvantage is I haven’t heard Joyce live. Other 78 year old Brazilian icons are available, however. And I have heard the far more in your face Tania Maria live a few times (Sala Kongresowa, Warsaw and Jazz Cafe, London) and interviewed her too (a hotel in Kilburn) for a piece run in Jazzwise oh ages ago but now lost. Do love the glorious TM classic ‘Come With Me’ of course. It would be insane not to. Compare and contrast as they say. Actually both form part of the same universal language – the rest is conversation – they are two sides of the same coin – and a matter of taste.
The spirit, again that word, taste, and the feeling Joyce radiates outwards in ever increasing circles counts most. It’s been too long hearing bossa nova live. The last time for me was hearing fine Brazilian guitarist Mario Bakuna at a place in Hoxton called the Lion and Lamb in 2021. Never Too Soon is even better than the latest Eliane Elias album Ao Vivo even though I am a sucker for that far glossier approach more usually.
Joyce reignites my desire to hear more bossa asap. She is more than a single sound: she is a role model for a nation and for a sound that went global in the 1960s and remains present and intact, often at the heart of the best jazz in some form or other.
Photo, top: Joyce via Far Out on Bandcamp
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