Elizeth Cardoso, Zimbo Trio, Jacob do Bandolim - Ao Vivo no Teatro Joao Caetano - Vol. 1

1. Ponteio
2. Suite Elizetheana
3. Cidade Vazia
4. Derradeira Primavera
5. Ginga Muxique
6. Nossos Momentos
7. É Luxo Só
8. Canção do Sal
9. Nós e o Mar
10. Mundo Melhor
11. Estrada Branca
12. Serenata do Adeus
13. Canção do Amor Demais
14. Tem Dó
15. Murmurando
16. Noites Cariocas
17. Texto Jacob sobre Descoberta de Elizeth em 1936
18. Mulata Assanhada
19. Texto Elizeth, Inconfidências sobre Jacob
20. Inocência
21. Foi numa Festa (Divinal)
22. Jamais
23. Feitio de Oração

Elizeth ao vivo - Vol. 1

In 1968, upon encountering economical difficulties, the Sound and Image Museum of Rio de Janeiro (MIS) conceptualized a show with Elizeth Cardoso backed by Jacob do Bandolim, his regional Época de Ouro, and the Zimbo Trio, directed by Hermínio Bello de Carvalho, to raise funds for their important work preserving culture. The historic show, which took place on February 19, 1968 (surrounded by enormous anxiety due to the proportions of the event and the struggle with budget limitations, not to mention a torrential summer rain that poured until two hours before showtime), was recorded and released on two LPs, of which this is the first. Saving tapes (that weren't new, blank ones), the two engineers of the MIS (Paulo Lavrador and Hamilton Córdoba) had to record in seven and a half IPS (instead of the professional 15 IPS) with modest two-channel equipment. The original sequence of the show was not preserved in the albums. This one starts with the show's opening "Elizetiana," as Carvalho called a selection of big hits by the singer that are interpreted by the Zimbo Trio. Elizeth Cardoso performed next with "Cidade Vazia" (Baden Powell/Luís Fernando Freire); the anxiety of the experienced singer was evident in her bad intonation the second time that she sang the verse, "Por isso, o jeito é lutar."  

But the passionate applause of the public by and by confirmed to the performers that they were participating in a night that would never be forgotten, a confirmation better expressed with the emotional singing along in "Barracão" (Luís Antônio/Oldemar Magalhães) (followed by a solo by the audience that complimented with an enthusiastic "Bravo!" by do Bandolim himself, who improvised with rare flexibility in this song). Cardoso's two highly emotional encores, both a cappella ("Serenata do Adeus" by Vinícius de Moraes and "Canção do Amor Demais" Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes) were released on the second volume. The albums sold 80,000 copies and contributed notably to save the museum. In 1977 a third volume was released with the subtitle "Fragmentos Inéditos do Histórico Recital," and later the show was reissued on CD in its entirety. 

(By Alvaro Neder from allmusic.com)

Elizete Cardoso, the singer whose album Chega de Saudade launched the bossa nova, was also the first popular singer to interpret Villa-Lobos at the Municipal Theaters of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and was considered by Almirante the best interpreter of Noel Rosa. Adored by Edith Piaf ("C'est merveilleuse! C'est merveilleuse!"), paid homage by Cartola (who wrote especially for her his famous samba-canção "Acontece"), and a most cherished artist by the Brazilian audiences, she was also known as "the Divina" (an alias given to her by Haroldo Costa and popularized by Vinicius de Moraes in his liner notes to Chega de Saudade).  

Her ample tessitura, capable of exploring faithfully both low and high registers, and her highly personal interpretation, full of a melancholy that witnessed the essence of an artist who experienced deep sadness in her life (along with all the rewards that success can bring), conveyed an unforgettable poetic density. In her almost 70 years of artistic activities, she performed a wide palette of genres, but her preference was for the samba. 

Born to a musical family, her father was a seresteiro (serenader) and her mother an amateur singer. At five, Cardoso debuted as a singer, performing at the rancho Kananga do Japão (a historical Carnival rancho founded in 1911). Having to work since very young, she had several small jobs until she was discovered by Jacob do Bandolim at the party for her 16th birthday, where he was brought to by her cousin Pedro, a popular figure among the musicians of the time. Enthusiastic about the young singer, Jacob do Bandolim took her to Rádio Guanabara, where she opened, on August 18, 1936, at the Programa Suburbano, with such artists as Noel Rosa, Vicente Celestino, Aracy de Almeida, and Marília Batista. Approved as a member of the cast, she started to perform there regularly at Tuesdays. Cardoso worked at several other radio stations, but she supplemented her earnings with performances in circuses, clubs, and cinemas. With Grande Otelo, she kept a duo for over ten years whose pièce de résistance was "Boneca de Piche" (Ary Barroso/Luís Iglésias). Always in financial difficulties, Cardoso got a job as a taxi-girl at the Dancing Avenida, where she also became a crooner in 1941. In 1945, she was hired by Júlio Simões to work in his dancing ballroom Casa Verde in São Paulo, where her fan club was expanded and came to include Adoniran Barbosa, the producers Vicente Leporace and Egas Moniz, and Blota Júnior, the A&R director of Rádio Cruzeiro do Sul. Cardoso worked there for one year and returned to her job at the Dancing Avenida, in Rio, as the crooner of the Orquestra de Dedé. Soon, she started to work at other dance ballrooms, like the Brasil, the Samba Danças, the Eldorado, and the Belas Artes. She was also, in that period, the crooner for the Orquestra de Guilherme Pereira.  

In 1948, Cardoso met Evaldo Rui, who would be instrumental in her artistic career (having also been her lover). Rui counseled her in terms of her performance and took her to Rádio Mauá, where she worked with her discoverer, Jacob do Bandolim. But, soon, she was hired by Rádio Guanabara, which reopened big time and decided to compete with the major radios, Nacional, Tupi, and Mayrink Veiga. 

In 1950, Ataulfo Alves got Cardoso an invitation to record for the first time, at Star. The first record though, with the sambas "Braços Vazios" (Acir Alves/Edgard G. Alves) and "Mensageiro da Saudade" (Ataulfo Alves), was withdrawn from circulation by the company due to alleged technical problems. But she was spotted at the Dancing Avenida by the composer Erasmo Silva, who was working for the Todamérica recording company, which would be opened in a few days. On July 25, 1950, she recorded through the new company "Complexo" (Wilson Batista), on the A-side, and "Canção de Amor" (Chocolate/Elano de Paula). The arrangements by the conductor Pachequinho for the latter song proved to be too complicated for the violinists; 12 of the 18 had to leave for their gig at Rádio Nacional, causing the song to go unrecorded. It was up to the outstanding saxophonist Zé Bodega to improvise the introduction and fill in the blanks.  

Surprisingly, the radios preferred to play "Canção de Amor." The result was immediate, with Cardoso being hired by Almirante to work at Rádio Tupi, the second most popular station in Rio. In the next year she debuted on TV, working on the first TV show of Rio de Janeiro (at TV Tupi), and in the cinema, in Coração Matrerno (Gilda de Abreu) and É Fogo na Roupa (Watson Macedo). Also in 1951, she was hired by Rádio Mayrink Veiga and by the Vogue club, recording in that year one of her biggest hits, "Barracão" (Luís Antônio/Oldemar Magalhães). In 1952, Cardoso worked on the film O Rei do Samba (Luís de Barros), and in the next year she had a signal of her rising prestige through an invitation to perform at the Golden Room of the Copacabana Palace, where just international artists were allowed (the only other Brazilians to perform there being Sílvio Caldas and Dorival Caymmi). But she preferred to perform at the Casablanca club, because the place was frequented by journalists. She opened there with the show Feitiço da Vila (dedicated to the songs by Noel Rosa and his partners) on June 8, 1953, and her strategy was successful, with enthusiastic reviews by renowned critics like Lúcio Rangel, Elsie Lessa, Vinícius de Moraes, Fernando Lobo, and others. 

In November, Cardoso recorded one of her few Carnaval hits, the marcha "Ai, Ai, Janot" (Pedro Alves/Gerson Filho/Antônio Filho). The song played with the fiasco of engineer Janot Pacheco, who had claimed to have discovered a chemical process to produce rain.  

The show Feitiço da Vila was opened in São Paulo with the same success of the Carioca season. But in September 1954, Evaldo Rui committed suicide, and the newspapers explored with sensationalism her role in the tragedy. Out of her suffering, she was invited to a 15-day tour of Uruguay, the first of a series of tours in that country. 

Still in 1954, Cardoso opened a show with Sílvio Caldas at the Oasis nightclub in São Paulo. According to the newspapers of the city, it was the most successful spectacle until then in the history of São Paulo.

(By Alvaro Neder from allmusic.com)