In April 2020 I was booked to fly to Brazil and record an album of music in Rio as part of study leave granted by the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the University of Melbourne. Having never been to South America, I couldn’t wait to visit the land of so much amazing guitar music and work with local musicians. It was a dream project and the distinguished guitarist and composer Marco Pereira had agreed to help produce the album and play on a few tracks. Unfortunately the Covid 19 global pandemic intervened and 2020 turned into a year of online teaching, zoom meetings and iPhone recording. By the end of the year we were out of lockdown, but international travel was (and still is) out of the question. In December 2020 I booked into Rolling Stock Studios in Collingwood to recording the music I had been planning to play in Brazil with some of my favourite Melbourne musicians Doug de Vries, Al Kerr, Rodrigo Salgado, Paloma Bica and Laila Engle with Myles Mumford on the desk.

Brazil has a guitar culture like no other and I’ve been inspired and amazed by major artists Yamandu Costa, Marco Pereira, Guinga, Paulo Aragão and Mauricio Carillho, all of whom have influenced this music. As a classical guitarist I’ve enjoyed playing music by Brazilian composers such as Villa Lobos, Garoto and Pernambuco for decades. I’ve been encouraged to take this interest further by the inimitable Doug de Vries who has been a leading light in fostering the Australian appreciation of Brazilian music for decades.

The first three tracks were all written during the 2020 lockdown: the choro Test and Tag, Shanghai (named after the colloquial Australian term for “slingshot” and a tribute to the great Yamandu Costa) and the nostalgic melody Strung Out, written as a feature for the mandolin.

Gecko is a tribute to Doug de Vries and the melody darts around typical choro chords changes, enhanced by the beautiful ensemble work of Doug and Al. There’s a nod to the popular bossa nova genre and my coffee addiction in Bossaccino, while Back of the Net aims to score a goal in the style of the baião from north eastern Brazil.

The scent of frangipani flowers is a strong memory from years spent at Aurukun in far north Queensland in the 1970s. Like the gecko and cane toad, frangipani tress can be found in Brazil and in my mind point to a range of connections between Australia and South America. The solo guitar piece Frangipani is a personal tribute to this flower and the expressive South American valsa.

Both The Dentist and Free Range are inspired by the compositional genius of the guitarist and composer Guinga, one of the most original voices in contemporary Brazilian music. Violinist Paloma Bica and bassist Rodrigo Salgado add their beautiful touches to these pieces. Cane Toad and Budgie are in a more classical mode with a nod to the idiomatic approach to the guitar pioneered by Villa Lobos and continued in the works of Egberto Gismonti. Flutist Laila Engle, a long term friend and duo partner is featured as soloist on Budgie. To conclude, Lucky Strike is a joyous celebration of rhythm accompanied by the expert grooves of percussionist Al Kerr.