4 Wagner Tiso from Brazil (1978-1982) limited time only

Here's a true curveball, an artist I would've completed ignored based on the somewhat erroneous genre description of 'popular Brazilian music' which implies or rather threatens us with the boring sambas, predictable chords, and latin simplicity we are so accustomed to from popular jazz and popular pop, apologies to those who love the style.

The progressive fan will probably be familiar with the early psychedelic/proto-prog band Som Imaginario especially its 1973 masterwork Matanca do Porco and its multiple songs called Armina and/or Vinheta.  Not clear to me if Tiso wrote the music for that group or just made the arrangements which were often orchestral.  Our Brazilian commenters will probably know a bit more and will elucidate.

Anyways, despite the prosaic description of his solo albums, there is some true creative invention here in the earliest albums (released when he was already in his thirties) which, inevitably, slowly dwindles the further into the eighties we get.  Time and time again we have seen that phenomenon, universal enough to be designated a scientific law, the Law of Postseventies Declining Progressiveness (LPDP).  The first two LPs with their feet stuck in that decade really stand out.  He is clearly a classically educated composer and brings some of the traditional fugues, piano figures, and chord progressions from that milieu into the mix but does a great job of providing entertaining variety to the whole.  So for comparison the famous Seasons of Vivaldi as interpreted by Canarios I thought was a bit too indebted to classical to be interesting, like Latte e Miele in their first album Passio Secundum.  He is also a Listzian virtuoso pianist as you can easily gather from the playing.  Consider for example the last track of the first ST album:





The operatic wordless singing augmented by the extreme drama of the symphonic arrangement really stands out.

From the 1979 album, which is the masterpiece for sure, Variations of Bela (Bartok?):





Thereafter the wonderful ideas decline as I mentioned, as per the LPDP.  Nonetheless or perhaps as a consequence, he continued to make an LP every year approximately all the way into the current era, into his sixties and beyond, at which point the ordinariness of the music is enough to make you comatose.  I should quote the bio too:

Wagner Tiso Veiga (Três Pontas, MG, December 12, 1945) is a Brazilian musician, arranger, conductor, pianist and composer.  Having, on the paternal side (Correia de Figueiredo), ancestry in ancient aristocracy Lusitanian; the maternal side (Tiso), Gypsy descent, Tiso learned music theory with Paulo Moura and specialized keyboards. Participated in the Sambacana set in 1964 and two years later went to work with the old master. He accompanied various artists like Cauby Peixoto, Ivon Cury, Maysa and Marcos Valle. In 1970 he joined the band Sound Imagination, who accompanied the shows of Milton Nascimento.  Member of Clube da Esquina, soon became successful abroad, performing in Athens and Montreux, and also following not only Milton but also Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Ron Carter.  In the '70s, made arrangements for Gonzaguinha, Paulo Moura, Johnny Alf, MPB-4, Dominguinhos, Milton himself and others.

I listened to all the albums post 1982 (Toca Brasil) until the early 90s and can guarantee there's very little for the progressive fan to be entertained by.  Very different from his compatriot and contemporary Egberto Gismonti, who was uncompromisingly progressive all the way through until the current era.  It's possible someone out there knows more and can indicate to us somewhere he reverted to the old style, but I gave up eventually.