CT 511 Stone Flower / God and The Devil in the Land of the Sun – Antonio Carlos Jobim
Side A: Stone Flower (3:18)
Side B: God and The Devil in the Land of the Sun (2:20)
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Issues: CTI CT 511 [45]
Master No.: CT 511 A/CT 511 B
Recorded: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: March 16; April 23, 24 and 29, 1970
(strings and horns overdubbed May 8, 20 and 22, 1970)
Released: September 1970
Tracks are from Jobim’s 1970 final CTI album of the same name “Stone Flower” .
The Original version of this post asserted that producer and writer Arnaldo De Souteiro had made claims in liner notes which were confusing or wrong. Mr De Souteiro points out those details came from a Eumir Deodato interview and were added by CTI and not part of his liner notes. I’m happy to correct the record and have rewritten that section.
Only known pressing. Released in the US, September 1970 as a promo for the album which was launched on July 6th, 1970. As with many of Taylor’s dozen, this was likely also distributed for jukebox distribution. The “Stone Flower album didn’t gain much popular attraction until January 1971 when it broke into the Billboard top-200 album chart, picking up airplay.
The original album note simply “Recorded at Van Gelder Studios” June 1970. This meant the Englewood Cliffs location. In the booklet insert to the 1990 Sony Music “Columbia Jazz Contemporary Masters” CD reissue notes that the tracks were “Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Passaic, NJ on March 16; April 23, 24 & 29; and May 8,20 & 22,1970.”
This is an error. Van Gelder’s original studio was in Hackensack, NJ and neither that address or Englewood Cliffs are in the city or county of Passaic. As Wikipedia note, Van Gelder moved into the Englewood Cliffs studio in July 1959[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gelder_Studio.
On his jazz station blog, Arnaldo De Souteiro identifies the source of this confusion. He quotes Eumir Deodato saying that both the A&M/CTI album “Tide” and the CTI album “Stone Flower” were recorded at the same sessions, with Taylor picking which tracks went on which albums and that “All the basic tracks were done in four sessions. Later on, I overdubbed the orchestra (strings and horns) on May 8, 20 and 22. All the basic tracks were done in four sessions, at Van Gelder studio in Passaic (he had not moved to Englewood Cliffs yet)”[2]http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2007/04/antonio-carlos-jobim-stone-flower.html.
The confusion is understandable on the part of Eumir Deodato. To the best of my knowledge Eumir first visited the USA and the NY/NJ metroplex in 1967. It’s a bewildering, maze of complex roads, bridges and tunnels between the two. Depending where how and where you get to NJ, there are lots more small town bridges that cross the Passaic and Hackensack rivers to up up to 9W and Englewood Cliffs, especially if you come from Newark (airport).
STONE FLOWER – The Single
“Stone Flower”[3]https://www.discogs.com/release/7782550-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Stone-Flower is the same track, same length as the album. Examining the wave forms there are only slight differences which can be accounted for in pressings, and vinyl wear etc. In popularity terms, the track would be surpassed by “Brazil” from the same album which was released as a single, CT 507. “Stone Flower” was covered in July 1970 by Fats Theus on his album CTI “Black Out”, issued as part of the CT 1000 series[4]https://www.ctproduced.com/on-this-day-black-out/ and later covered by Herbie Hancock on the Lee Ritenour produced, i.e. Music release “A Twist Of Jobim”[5]https://www.discogs.com/release/755289-Various-A-Twist-Of-Jobim in 1997.
In it’s album review, Canadian RPM music magazine[6]1970 26th, September 6 Volume 14 No. 6 described the the title track as “exceptional with violin solo and clever use of instruments putting it into the free form bag.” As De Souteiro notes, the track “features veteran violinist Harry Lookofsky (then concertmaster of the NY Symphony)”.
The B-side “God and The Devil in the Land of the Sun” is also the same length, same edit as the “Stone Flower” album track. The track though has a interesting back-story. The track is taken from the “Music From The Soundtrack Of The Paramount Picture The Adventurers”[7]https://www.discogs.com/master/107205-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Music-From-The-Soundtrack-Of-The-Paramount-Picture-The-Adventurers also released in 1970 with arrangements and conducting by Eumir Deodato. The track from the soundtrack album though has a completely different arrangement and runs only 1:48 versus 2:20 on this single.
De Souteiro says the track is “the theme for a war scene on the original “The Adventurers” soundtrack, showcases Deodato’s fiery brass arrangement. Joe Farrell takes the solo spot on the soprano sax”. The Jobim/Deodato sountrack album had a short life outside of the film. The films producer Harold Robbins and backers had the music re-done by Ray Brown, and produced by Quincy Jones.(for that story see an earlier post[8]https://www.ctproduced.com/sally-kellerman-and-that-voice/. The soundtrack album is also not available on streaming platforms.
The full page color advertisement for Jobim’s July 21st 1970 appearance on the Merv Griffin show, listed “God and The Devil in the Land of the Sun” as the B-side of CT 507[9]https://www.ctproduced.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Billboard-1970-07-25-OCR-Page-0024.pdf. It’s not known if this was an error or last minute change since there is no pressing of CT 507 with “Brazil/God and The Devil in the Land of the Sun”.
CT 510 Sampson & Delilah – Move Over << | Taylor’s Dozen | >> CT 512 Astrud Gilberto – (Where Do I Begin) Love Story
References
Updates: 3rd March, 2023 – Added note about De Souteiro’s use of Passiac; also added detail and link for Jobim’s appearance on the Merv Griffin show.
29th March, 2023 – Completely rewrote the section describing the Passaic studio to make clear that Eumir Deodato originally said that and it was included by CTI and not part of De Souteiro’s liner notes.