Egberto Gismonti

Sol do Meio Dia ("noonday sun") is the 1978 album in which the Brazilian guitarist, pianist and composer Egberto Gismonti drew on the time he spent with the Xingu of the Amazon. The record is dedicated to them. Recorded in Oslo in November 1977 for ECM, it sets his eight-string guitar, piano, kalimba and wood flute beside four musicians from the label's circle. The music moves between Brazilian song, the tabla and berimbau of the shorter pieces, and a long closing suite.

Gismonti's partner on percussion is Naná Vasconcelos, with whom he had made his first ECM album, Dança das Cabeças. Here Vasconcelos plays berimbau, tama and assorted percussion, and uses his own body as an instrument. Ralph Towner adds 12-string guitar and Collin Walcott tabla, both members of the group Oregon, and all three guests also play bottles. Jan Garbarek appears on soprano saxophone in the closing suite only. Manfred Eicher produced the session at Talent Studio, with Jan Erik Kongshaug engineering.

Palácio de Pinturas pairs Gismonti's eight-string guitar with Towner's twelve-string. On Raga Walcott's tabla and Vasconcelos's percussion turn in circular, hypnotic figures while Gismonti answers with quick runs high on the neck. Kalimba brings thumb piano, wood flute and wordless voice over berimbau, and Coração is a solo piece for Gismonti at the piano. The last 25 minutes are one suite, Café / Sapain / Dança Solitária No. 2 / Baião Malandro. It opens with Garbarek's mournful soprano, passes through a solo by Towner and arrives at flute, percussion and handclaps.

ECM itself quotes Jazziz in 1988: "This album is a classic, no doubt about it." In his AllMusic review Stephen Cook called it an "impressive combo outing" and recommended it highly. The album widened Gismonti's ECM work from the duo with Vasconcelos to a larger group, and the following year he recorded Magico with Garbarek and Charlie Haden. Walcott and Vasconcelos, for their part, soon formed the trio Codona with Don Cherry, and the kalimba and percussion passages here already point in that direction.

This is the CD edition, catalogue number ECM 1116, of the album first released in May 1978.