Day 185: Luiz Bonfá – Introspection

The vast majority of the artists I feature are somewhere from the US or the UK, and I’m going to start making more of an effort to broaden my horizons a little bit. I don’t think I’ve featured any Brazilian music, so today’s artist is Luiz Bonfá, a Brazilian guitarist and composer.

Album cover courtesy of RCA International

Luiz Bonfá was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1922 and died in 2001. He started playing guitar when he was 11 years old, traveling two and a half hours on a train to his lessons. He was such a talented and dedicated student that his teacher, classical guitarist Isaías Sávio, was willing to overlook that he couldn’t pay for his lessons and taught him anyway.

He became known for his bossa nova songs and for composing the score for the film Black Orpheus. He’s also the composer of the popular jazz standard “A Day In The Life Of A Fool”, which appeared in Black Orpheus but became more popular when English-speaking lyrics were added by the American songwriter Carl Sigman. It has been recorded by artists like Frank Sinatra and Jack Jones.

Today’s album isn’t one of Bonfá’s better known bossa nova recordings, but a cult favourite guitar album from 1972 called Introspection.

The first thought I had was that it is insane what you can do with just a guitar. It’s just him playing, yet it sounds so full and luscious. The songs are tender and intimate and just astonishingly beautiful. Even thought it’s only 27 minutes long, it packs a punch and demands your full attention – it’s not something you can just casually put on, at least not for the first time. I had to lay down and close my eyes to give it my full attention. It’s meditative, something you just want to sink into.

It’s sad to think that this didn’t sell too much when it came out, I think it’s close to being a bit of an underrated masterpiece. I’d recommend it to practically anyone. 9/10, it’s almost what I imagine heaven sounds like.