Rhythm Planet: July Playlist Potpourri

New and vintage sounds from Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Latin America, and more.

By Tom Schnabel • Jul 14, 2020 • 2 min read

This week’s playlist potpourri features mostly new plus a sprinkling of vintage tracks from around the world. We also remember the late Ennio Morricone with classics from his soundtracks. The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, led by Oscar Hernández, kicks us off. I can’t stop listening to SHO’s new album The Latin Jazz Project. What rhythm and musicianship! We hear the latest from the Latin alternative ensemble LADAMA, whose all-female members hail from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and the U.S. They sing in Spanish, Portuguese, and English on their second full-length album Oye Mujer.

New releases continue with music from multi-instrumentalist Derrick Hodge, Turkish oud master Mehmet Polat, and L.A.-based Persian singer Mahsa Vahdat with one from her new album Enlighten the Night. I like the guitar work on PEACE, the latest from Spirit Fingers, as well as Brazilian-born Ricardo Grilli’s album 1962.

We then remember Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who died recently at the age of 91. I love his soundtrack for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, one of the many Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns that Morricone scored. The music is wacky and wonderful. We listen to the best-known piece from it, as well as a beautiful song from Cinema Paradiso, and a lush, beloved track from The Mission.

We start the next set of new releases with a lovely ballad called “Parity” from French-Canadian trumpet player Rachel Therrien. After that, the second studio album from pianist Aaron Parks and his quartet Little Big. I love acoustic bass so please check out a wonderful solo bass version of the standard “I’ll Remember April” from Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder.

As always, we’ll hear African music on Rhythm Planet playlists, first from London-born, Nigeria-raised bassist Michael Olatuja featuring Angelique Kidjo, then Kenya’s Fadhilee Itulya, and also from a terrific African music compilation Pure Africa, featuring the still-amazing track “Moussolou” by Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, originally from her 1989 hit album of the same name. Pure Africaalso includes music from Ghana, South Africa, Guinea, Senegal, Namibia, Ethiopia, Gambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Highly recommended for its coverage of many African styles.

The final set features a quartet of beautiful Brazilian songs that continue to stand the test of time. Brazilian music weaves a tapestry of sound and colors, brilliant writing and orchestrations. You could listen to songs like these forever, and they’ve been part of my musical life for a long time. So we finish this playlist with evergreens from Edu Lobo, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Mario Adnet, and an Afro-Brazilian spiritual from Virginia Rodrigues.

Rhythm Planet Playlist for July 14, 2020