Bola

The first and third of the three albums Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete made together - Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete & Friends (1963) and Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete Live at El Matador (1966) - are combined onto one disc on this CD reissue. Actually, Sete only plays on two of the seven songs ("More" and "O Morro Nao Tem Vez") on the latter album, but no matter. Their collaboration could not be pegged as a peak in either man's careers, and did not particularly inspire either to forms or feelings they didn't achieve on their own. Nevertheless, they made pleasant, lightly swinging music together, often with a jazz-samba lilt, though at an easy enough pace that the music could fit comfortably into lounges. Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete & Friends is certainly the more samba-oriented of the pair, not only because Sete is aboard for every cut, but also because the arrangements have more of a Brazilian feel…

Manchester's Bola is Darrell Fitton, whose 1995 debut 12-inch for Skam under that name helped shoot the now-collectible label to underground notoriety. Although the first of Fitton's released tracks appeared on the Warp label's Artificial Intelligence II compilation in 1995 and displayed the same style of chrome-dipped melodic techno adhered to by many Warp artists, his subsequent Bola material focused in on a heartier, less accessible aesthetic. His self-titled Skam EP combined vaguely funk-fueled rhythms with harsh, austere synth textures and almost industrial-grade distortion. With the exception of compilation tracks for Silent Records' U.S.-released Skampilation, the Skam-V/Vm collaboration061, and the mostly obscure Mask series…

Despite the co-billing, Sete only appears on the second half of the album, leaving the Guaraldi trio to knock out a crisp series of standard pop tunes of the time ("I'm a Loser," "People," "More") and two memorable Guaraldi originals ("Nobody Else," "El Matador") in its patented mainstream and Latin modes in the first half. When Sete turns up, the set goes all-Brazilian as the two display their blended, intertwined teamwork for the third and last time on records in "Favela" and a brace of tunes from Black Orpheus. Though it is only a partial collaboration, this album has a bit more fire than their previous ones, possibly due to the live factor.