25th June 2009.
Jose’s new album Mountains and Sea de Novo is available now as a download only, through iTunes and Amazon. Paul Minkkinen reviews the album further down this page, but firstly Paul talks with Jose in

THE JOSE NETO INTERVIEW

Jose Neto is a very busy man. Having been up late the night before rehearsing for the London Scala show, he'd today visited Ronnie Scott’s to confirm dates for the Netoband to play there on 8/9/10th October (subsequently cancelled due to other musical commitments). He'd just finished the band soundcheck before meeting me for a pre-arranged interview. We dodged the rush hour London traffic and crossed the road to a nearby Starbucks.

Nine Lives

I started our conversation by asking more about the recording process for Steve Winwood’s “Nine Lives” album.

Jose explained how the music came together in defined stages over a two year period. Steve had expressed to Jose his excitement regarding the improvisations the band had played at various soundchecks/rehearsals, which had all been recorded. To start the writing process Jose and Steve met up for a week exploring their musical directions which were very much organ and guitar based melodic / harmonic ideas.

The second phase of the writing process was to take 10 of their musical ideas and record them as a duo. Steve then took these recordings and shaped them into more structured songs / melodic ideas.

The remaining band members were then called in to add their ideas and bring in the rhythms and grooves. The rhythm base of the new material was recorded over 2 sessions with the band members.

The 3rd phase of the recordings involved taking this work in progress back into the room to introduce the melodies to the songs, and once in place brought in new lyricist Peter Godwin to add words to the potential melodic themes. The 10 songs became 9 songs and 9 Lives was born.

The exception to this working process was I'm Not Drowning where the lyrics came first. I mentioned to Jose about the DVD accompanying the new album. Steve mentions about the track 'Hungry Man' and how he had spotted a particular segment that Jose had played on one of the recorded jams. Jose apparently didn't recall this piece of music, and Steve had to remind him. Jose's comment was that this was down to Steve's ability to spot and capture that musical moment. The guitar sound on “Raging Sea” really fascinated me. Now you'll have to excuse my guitar terminology from what Neto told me, but the gist was that he tied to create an old 50's vibrato sound, with the recording taking the miked sound direct from the guitar / and sounds from the amp. I'd heard an 'unofficial' recording from the Blender gig and commented that there was a much harsher dirtier sound on the live version, which made it sound a lot more menacing. Monday's version seemed to capture a sound closer to the studio version, but had a certain rawness slipping back in as the song progressed, a point endorsed by Jose after the show, which if nothing else proves I was listening intently. A highlight of the album, and also a standout tune from the live show.

Guitars

I asked Jose when he first got hold of his trademark sounding Paradis guitar. He explained he was playing at Ronnie Scotts in 1990, and a classical guitarist called Phorbes Hendesa gave him one as a gift. Jose subsequently met the maker earlier this year and Jose took delivery of a new Paradis, which he gave its live debut at the Dear Mr. Fantasy Concert. You will notice this one has the machine heads in the conventional position.

Check out these 2 web-sites for info on these guitars:
History and development
www.matthias.grob.org/pEE/SndHist.htm
Rolf Spuler: Designer / engineer
www.rolfspuler.com/



On the subject of guitarists, I asked Jose to name his 3 favourite guitarists. Jose chose Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, and one I'd not heard of a Cuban called Leo Brower, who Jose chose because of his great composing skills.

The Netoband

We turned to the subject of the Netoband. I'm still amazed at how he fits them in with his busy schedules. Jose had been to Ronnie Scotts earlier that day to confirm a 3 night booking on 8-10 October, and hopes to also play German dates in the same period. (dates  subsequently resheduled-see update at end of article).The line-up is the same, and includes ex-Winwood band members Celso and Cafe.

Eddie the editor of our web-site asked me to find out when Jose first became a professional musician. Jose tells me he was 18 years old teaching at a Brazilian music school. He moved to the USA in '78 first of all joining up with Harry Belafonte's band. Jose became musical director for Belafonte and used to handle and arrange the band. Jose knew Harry's musical needs and puts down the experience as being highly educational. This month (May) sees Jose and Harry re-united to play a concert in Toronto. Jose smiled and dubbed the gig Harry and Jose, the comeback! To make the gig Jose would be flying out at 10am the next morning straight after the Scala gig.

Most recently, Jose re-united with Airto Moreira and Flora Purim and played some well received dates in L.A., San Diego and Moscow. He somewhat tongue in cheek described the music chosen as 'the greatest hits' with some of the material stemming back from the days when he played with them in the band known as 4th World. Included in the line-up was fellow Netoband member Gary Brown on bass, Kit Walker (keyboards) and Flora's children Diana Booker (vocals) and Krishna Booker (percussion, beat box / vocals) who form the group Eyedentity www.eyedentitymusic.com/main.html    

I asked Jose what interests he has outside music. He loves sports and in particular football and tennis, and plays both amongst family and friends. He also likes the arts in general.

Jose checked his watch, it was time to go, there was a gig to do, Neto grabbed a toasted sandwich, and we wandered back with drummer Richard Bailey.There were many other things we could have discussed but time waits for no-one.

As always it was a pleasure to talk to Jose, and I'd like to thank him for his time and the great music he brings to us.

....Moving along in time to November 2008......I met up with Jose after Steve & his band had played `Basingstoke. Jose spoke about his solo album , which he hoped to have available on i-tunes in the new year. Artwork for the cover still had to be finalised and, as luck would have it, he handed me an advance copy, The album is reviewed below.

Several days later Jose left Malaga where Steve and the band had just played to visit Stuttgart in Germany. Here he presented a guitar workshop, and on the following day gave a solo performance, with a couple of  ‘full on numbers’ on the Paradis, before switching to the nylon strung acoustic to showcase music from the new album. The audience were then treated to a solo rendition of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. I spoke with promoter Rita Bahr who was pleased with the 2 days of music, and mentioned that Jose was happy to get the opportunity to play his music to a German audience. No news as yet regarding U.K. or other worldwide dates, but owe can only  hope Jose will play his usual residency at Ronnie Scott’s some time in 2009.

Paul reviews Mountains and Sea de Novo

During our interview Jose had told me about his new solo album called Mountains and Sea de Novo. When I questioned the title being that of his first solo album he smiled and explained the recording. The album is a re-working of his debut recording played solely on nylon strung classical guitar. The songs have a new flavour, and different inserts,with 4 new tracks added. The album was recorded in New York and produced by guitarist Jay McGeehan, who has in the past played live with Jose and Harry Belafonte. Neto described the sound as pure guitar and unlike the original recording there is no percussion or other instrumentation.

Recorded at Joan Of Arc Park Studio March 1,2 & 4 2008.

I have in my music collection, the original version  of Mountains and the Sea  on vinyl . It was released on the Waterlily Acoustics label back in 1986. Seven tunes remain from the 10 recorded back then, all re-recorded, adapted and extended. There are also 4 new titles.. The first thing  that hits you is the ‘closeness’ of the guitar, it’s a really intimate listening experience, where you can hear every movement on the fretboard, the sound of the fingers on the strings, at tines scratching at the frets.

The opening track ‘With The Trees’ is almost like a showcase to Neto’s talents, in an almost ‘this is what I can do kind of way’, not showing off I hasten to add but letting the listener know what he’s capable of. ‘Sao Felipe’ is a personal favourite relaxed but complex; this is tranquil music, but by no means easy listening. It demands your attention.

Maybe it’s the album title acting  as an influence, but I personally found myself visualising landscape, the elements, nature whilst listening to this uplifting music. ‘Choro de Novo’ reminds me of a Summers day; you can almost hear birds singing in the trees-this is music that fires the imagination.

As on the original version Flora Purim sings on ‘Graca’, a moody piece with Flora’s voice sounding like another instrument, she really does have a unique singing voice. ‘Lua Flora’ is another highlight.  It has been re-arranged on Fourth World albums (Neto/ Airto Moreira / Flora Purim) and appeared as the title track on Lua’s Dance . I enjoy the simplicity of this version, feisty, fiery and with it’s quiet genteel moments, wonderful.

The album is available now as a download only, through iTunes and Amazon. A bit more expensive is the iTunes version but it is available a higher quality format than mp3 and in view of the sound clarity on offer, I would certainly go for quality over pricing.

I look forward to hearing some of this material live hopefully at Ronnie Scott’s, just hope there is respectful silence whilst it’s being played and I hope the applause brings the roof down! 

Interview, album review and live photo's by:

Paul Minkkinen

Photo below of Jose and me taken by a random guy who was about to purchase a cappuccino in Starbucks !