The Japanese vocal-guitar duo Meu Coração releases the stunning A Tempo as a return to an earlier form. While the duo is well known for playing acoustic Brazilian music at sold-out concert halls and their Hall Tone albums, this sixth album presents dramatic variations with an exciting full-band sound.

The album starts with a vibrant “One Note Samba” and also features a catchy “Lawns”, the peppy Brazilian tunes “Corrida De Jangada” and “Batacuda Surgiu”, and a sentimental, lush “Amazon River”. The album closes like a sweet lullaby with a dreamy “Love Me Tender”.

The music grooves with creative arrangements and interesting effects, rooted by the vocal-guitar duo at the core who continue to make music from the heart.

A Tempo by Meu Coracao

• Emiko Voice - vocals
• Taro Sukegawa - acoustic & electric guitar, cavaquinho
• Ken'ichiro Shinzawa - keyboards
• Cokky - electric bass
• Kiyotaka Kuroda - drums
• Yasuhiro Yoshigaki - percussion (#4, 7)

Released in 2016 on Eclectic Records as ECLC-101.

Japanese names: エミコヴォイス Emiko Voice 助川太郎 Sukegawa Taro 新澤健一郎 Shinzawa Ken'ichiro コッキー Cokky 黒田清高 Kuroda Kiyotaka 芳垣安洋 Yoshigaki Yasuhiro

Audio and Video

• Live performance of “Corrida De Jangada”, the third track on this album:

• Promotional video featuring the second track “Lawns”:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Samba de uma nota so[']”

Jazz of Japan #31 • Mar 14, 2018 • Brian McCrory