This album is a sort of ‘holy grail’ for Brazilian jazz. From Marcos Resende’s Bandcamp site:
Beyond their highly sought after 1978 album Festa Para Um Novo Rei – home to the mystical jazz-funk classic ‘Vidigal’ and released on Philips’ iconic Musica Popular Brasileira Contemporanea series (MPBC) – little is known about Marcos Resende & Index, even to aficionados of rare Brazilian music. Far Out Recordings is immensely proud to present their previously unreleased self-titled debut album from 1976, contributing a crucial missing work from the glory days of progressive Brazilian instrumental music.A prodigious child, Marcos Resende learned to play the accordion at the age of two, and taught himself the piano at six. In spite of his immense potential to become a musician he travelled to Lisbon in the 60s to study medicine, though he continued to explore his musical passion on the side, forming a trio which ended up opening for Dexter Gordon at the Cascais Jazz Festival in 1971. From here he formed the electronic oriented prog-jazz group Status, who opened shows for the likes of Elton John, Phil Woods, Stan Getz, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, but in spite of their relative live success they have no known recordings.
Now established as a highly regarded keyboardist, composer, and innovative electronic musician, Resende returned home to Brazil following Portugal’s Revolução dos Cravos in 1974. Inspired and invigorated by US jazz and British progressive rock he’d experienced while residing in Europe, Resende went all out acquiring a keyboard arsenal to be reckoned with, which included the Prophet 5, Yamaha CP-708 and Mini Moog. Determined to integrate his newfound inspirations with Brazilian rhythms and jazz traditions, he formed a new quartet with Rubão Sabino (bass), Claudio Caribé (drums) and the late great Oberdan Magalhães, of Banda Black Rio and Cry Babies fame. Marcos Resende & Index recorded their self-titled debut at Sonoviso Studios with the legendary sound engineer Toninho Barbosa, known as the ‘Brazilian Rudy Van Gelder’ whose impressive resumé includes the era defining classics Light As A Feather by Azymuth, Previsão Do Tempo by Marcos Valle, and Quem É Quem by João Donato. Marcos Resende & Index fits perfectly amongst these masterpieces, sharing both the timeless ethereal qualities as well as the progressive and futuristic ideals of Light As A Feather in particular.
Though he wasn’t short of offers to release the album, Resende felt record companies were de-valuing the time and effort he spent absorbing his influences while establishing a career in Europe, and perfecting his sound with his Brazilian bandmates, as well as the magnitude of the recording they achieved. As time passed, Resende become one of the most revered session keyboardists in Brazil, and played on records by Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo, Carlos Dafé and Gal Costa, among many others; as a result his career as a bandleader took a backseat, and this remarkable recording has stayed below the surface til now.
Thankfully Marcos kept the tapes from the Sonoviso sessions safe and presented them to Far Out’s Joe Davis at his home in Lisbon in 2018. Now the time is finally right for the album to see the light of day. Marcos Resende & Index will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats from 29th January 2021.
