Baden Powell also composed many fine pieces for guitar, such as Abração em Madrid, Braziliense, Canto de Ossanha, Casa Velha, Consolação, Horizon, Imagem, Lotus, Samba, Samba Triste, Simplesmente, Tristeza e solidão, and Xangô.
Roberto Baden Powell de Aquino was born in Varre-Sai in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father, a scouting enthusiast, named him after Robert Baden-Powell. When he was three months old, his family relocated to the Rio suburb of São Cristóvão. The new surroundings proved profoundly influential. His house was a stop for popular musicians during his formative years. He started guitar lessons with Jayme Florence, a famous choro guitarist in the 1940s. He soon proved a young virtuoso, having won many talent competitions before he was a teenager. At age fifteen, he was already playing professionally, accompanying singers and bands in various styles. As a youngster, he was fascinated by swing and jazz, but his main influences were firmly rooted in the Brazilian guitar canon.
In 1955, Powell was playing with the Steve Bernard Orquestra at the Boite Plaza, a nightclub within the Plaza Hotel in Rio, where his skill got the attention of the jazz trio playing across the lobby at the Plaza Bar. When Ed Lincoln needed to form a new trio, he asked Powell to join on guitar to become the Hotel Plaza Trio. Powell brought in Luiz Marinho for bass duties as well as a fourth member of the "trio": Claudette Soares on vocals. Powell, Lincoln and their young musician friends took part in after-hours jam sessions, gaining notice in the growing Brazilian jazz scene.
Powell achieved much wider fame in 1959 by convincing Billy Blanco, an established singer and songwriter, to put lyrics to one of Powell's compositions. The result was called "Samba Triste" and quickly became very successful. It has been covered by many artists, including Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd in their seminal LP Jazz Samba.
In 1962, Powell met the poet-diplomat Vinicius de Moraes and began a collaboration that yielded some true classics of 1960s Brazilian music. Although bossa nova was the prevailing sound of the times, the partnership Baden-Vinicius wanted to transcend the then-fashionable sound by syncretizing Afro-Brazilian forms such as Candomblé, Umbanda and Capoeira with Rio de Janeiro's Samba forms. The most enduring result is a series released as an LP in 1966 under the name "Os Afro-Sambas de Baden e Vinicius". During those years, he studied advanced harmony with Moacir Santos, released recordings in the Brazilian labels Elenco and Forma, as well as in the French label Barclay and the German label MPS/Saba (notably, his 1966 Tristeza on Guitar, considered by many to be a high point in his career). In addition, he was the house guitarist for Elenco, and of the celebrated singer Elis Regina's TV show "O Fino da Bossa".
In 1968, he partnered with poet Paulo Cesar Pinheiro and produced another series of Afro-Brazilian inspired music released in 1970 as "Os Cantores da Lapinha".
He visited and toured Europe frequently in the 1960s, relocating permanently to France in 1968. In the 1970s, he released many recordings with different labels in Europe and Brazil. His star dimmed somewhat owing to health problems and people's changing tastes. He spent the 1980s in semi-retirement in France and Germany. Finally, in the 1990s he and his family moved back to Brazil, where he continued to record and perform. Public recognition of his work came around that time in Brazil. By the end of the 1990s he converted to the Evangelical faith, to which he credits overcoming his long addictions to alcohol and tobacco. Nevertheless, his health had greatly deteriorated after many years of abuse, and he fell terminally ill in 2000.
Baden Powell died of pneumonia triggered by diabetes on 26 September 2000, in Rio de Janeiro.
He is the father of pianist Philippe Baden Powell de Aquino and guitarist Louis Marcel Powell de Aquino.
Playing style
Baden Powell decided at age 19 to stop playing the electric guitar, preferring to concentrate on the classical guitar for the rest of his career. He did record a series of albums with a borrowed steel-string acoustic, but that is as far as he strayed from his main instrument in his adulthood.
An analysis of his repertoire reveals a wide range of interests. It spanned all the idioms of Brazilian popular music of the 20th century: Samba, Bossa Nova, Afro-bahian ritual music, Frevo, Choro, North Eastern Sertão music, even European and Japanese lullabies. Like most musicians growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, he was deeply influenced by Jazz, especially Bebop and Swing. He covered Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight on two recordings, and Jerome Kern's All the Things you Are on three occasions (including his first solo album).
This upbringing is reflected in his playing style, which shows a fusion of jazz harmonies and classical guitar technique, with a very Brazilian right hand (i.e., the one carrying the rhythm on the guitar). In solo classical music, he was quite proficient in the works of Tárrega and Bach. When playing in a group, he was able to accompany singers with quiet mastery, or let loose and play street Samba in sloppy "party" style as if the guitar was another percussion instrument. Like Monk, he was fond of the minor second interval as a way to "bend" the tonality. However, because of his jazz background, he would rarely physically bend the string, preferring instead to play the minor second using an adjacent open string. Students of his style should note this preference for chord voicings that feature extensions on the open strings as a way of punctuating passages. Other idioms to watch for are the endless variations in rhythm played by the right hand; always within the proper 2/4 samba meter, as well as his tendency to put his "signature" in a fast descending scale with a (slower) ascending arpeggio in the relative key. Another common device that he used in his recordings consisted of his use of vocalise and scat singing, often in unison with the melody line (especially when the melody was sung on the bass strings of the guitar).
His influences, according to his testimony, were his first teacher "Meira" (Jayme Florence, 1909–1982), Dilermando Reis (1916–1977), and Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915–1955). He also commented about being influenced by the work of Les Paul (Lester William Polfus, 1915–2009), Django Reinhardt (1910–1953) and Jacques Loussier (1934-).
Discography
Baden Powell first appeared as accompanist on a handful of big band and samba recordings from the 1950s. He recorded his first solo album in 1959, but it was released in 1961. His first and second albums as a featured performer show a selection of Jazz standards along with Brazilian hits of the time and some original compositions. In 1962, he rose to international attention when he recorded with flutist Herbie Mann and drummer Jimmy Pratt. By 1963, he was flying solo and fronting small ensembles in Brazil and France. The French labels Barclay and Festival released many of his recordings. In Germany, MPS/Saba released his work with producer Joachim Berendt. In Brazil, he recorded for the Elenco, Forma and the Brazilian subsidiary of Philips Records. After a relative drought of new releases in the 1980s, Baden Powell returned to recording studios in Brazil for his final years. These late recordings showcase him playing mostly solo guitar, or voice and guitar in a relaxed, intimate style, with occasional flurries of his former energetic playing.
Round About Midnight
Baden Powell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Round midnight, midnight
I do pretty well, till after sundown
Suppertime I'm feelin' sad
But it really gets bad
'Round midnight
Memories always start 'round midnight
When my heart is still with you
And ol' midnight knows it, too
When a quarrel we had needs mending
Does it mean that our love is ending
Darlin' I need you, lately I find
You're out of my heart
And I'm out of my mind
Let our hearts take wings'
'Round midnight, midnight
Let the angels sing
For your returning
Till our love is safe and sound
And old midnight comes around
Feelin' sad
Really gets bad
Round, Round, Round Midnight
Baden Powell's "Round About Midnight" is a melancholic song that speaks about the pain of heartbreak and the longing to be reunited with a lost love. The lyrics paint a picture of a person who is desperately trying to cope with their loneliness and sadness, but is struggling to do so. The song starts on the melancholic note that memories always start around midnight. The singer confesses that he does pretty well until sundown when his emotional struggles begin to resurface.
During suppertime, the pain becomes unbearable, and as the night deepens, he can't help but feel sad. The chorus repeats the phrase, "Round midnight," emphasizing how the late hours of the night seem to compound the singer's pain. The songwriter cleverly personifies the time of the day as if it is aware of the singer's pain by stating that "Old midnight knows it too." This reinforces the idea that the singer is resigned to his fate of heartbreak and loneliness.
As the song continues, the singer becomes increasingly introspective, wondering if the quarrels he had with his lover mean that their love is ending. He confesses that he needs his lover and that not having them has made him feel out of his mind. In the final verse, the song takes a hopeful tone, as the singer pleads for his lover's return. He speaks of letting their hearts take wings and imagines the angels singing as his love returns. As the song ends, the singer is still feeling sad, but there is a sense of hope that the dawn of a new day might bring love, peace, and joy.
Line by Line Meaning
It begins to tell
The story begins
'Round midnight, midnight
It happens at around midnight
I do pretty well, till after sundown
I am all right until the sun goes down
Suppertime I'm feelin' sad
I feel sad at dinnertime
But it really gets bad
It gets worse
'Round midnight
Around midnight
Memories always start 'round midnight
I always remember things around midnight
Haven't got the heart to stand those memories
I can't handle those memories
When my heart is still with you
When I am still in love with you
And ol' midnight knows it, too
And midnight is aware of it
When a quarrel we had needs mending
When we need to fix an argument we had
Does it mean that our love is ending
Does it indicate that our love is over
Darlin' I need you, lately I find
I need you, and I have been realizing it recently
You're out of my heart
I am not in love with you anymore
And I'm out of my mind
I am going crazy
Let our hearts take wings'
Let us feel free and happy in love
'Round midnight, midnight
It happens around midnight
Let the angels sing
Let us be happy and celebrate
For your returning
For your comeback
Till our love is safe and sound
Until our love is stable and secure
And old midnight comes around
When midnight comes again
Feelin' sad
I feel sad
Really gets bad
It gets terrible
Round, Round, Round Midnight
Around midnight
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cootie Williams, Bernard D Hanighen, Theolonious S Monk
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@SurfLeleco
Tem uma musica do Thelonious Monk
Chamada 'round about midnight'
Que e uma musica linda
E tocada pelo Badem é sensacional nesse album
Trusteza on guitar
O Thelonious Monk e espetacular viu?
Conheci ele a pouco tempo uns 7anos diria
Meu negocio e mais o Baden
Que è inigualável
Ô na minha opnião
Dia 26 de setembro ficou marcado duplamente
Porque foi a data que nasci
O mes que nasci
Mas anos diferentes
Do falecimento do Baden.
Mas voltando aos violoes
Baden Powell e Thelonious Monk
Sao sensacionais
Brincadeiras a parte
@Zumbi2405
Verdade que as vezes voltando pro Brasil fico espantado com isso. A gente aqui trata de divulgar várias músicas brasileiras numa pequena rádio associativa em Marseille, France. Uma amostra (se agüentares a apresentação e os comentários) :
celle de janvier : Jazz et Brésil (1)
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2020-01-06-quevivalamusica
celle de décembre : Vitor Ramil, un très grand artiste du Rio Grande do Sul
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-12-02-que-viva-la-musica
celle de novembre : promenade dans plusieurs régions du Brésil
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-11-04-que-viva-la-musica
la deuxième de mai : un troisième pauliste, Eduardo Gudin
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-05-20-quevivalamusica
la première de mai : des sambistes de São Paulo (attention, le Brésil arrive à environ 24')
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-05-06-quevivalamusica
en mars : Jorge Linenburg, violoniste et rabequeiro
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-03-18-quevivalamusica
en février : Claire Luzi & Cristiano Nascimento, Boum mon boeuf
https://radiogalere.org/?playlist=2019-02-11-quevivalamusica
@luizaugustobernardo520
Baden, um dos maiores músicos do mundo.
@zaidnauj4977
Desde hace casi 50 años escuchó este hermoso tema tan maravillosamente interpretado por baden Powell y aún no deja e emocionarme... Una belleza...
@michaelvaladez6570
This in my opinion is the best version of this ironic song.He plays this so heartfelt and inspiration.
@GPerruciani
Round Midnight is Thelonious Monk's most famous composition. Written in the key of Eb Minor, the 6 flats in the key signature take some getting used to but the tune contains lots of interesting chord changes and harmonic movements. 4:45 [PianoGroove]
@gorandrljaca6948
listen verdion of Johnny Smith.
@sam_fernandees
essa melodia vai para além do humano, é sinistro...
@christianraposo9388
fico querendo entender como 4 pessoas deram dislike numa obra prima dessas
@luizfernandocarvalho6112
Agora são 7! 7 pessoas afastadas de Deus, não eh possível!! Toda vez q escuto isso eu emociono!
@sam_fernandees
a única explicação possível, digo, a única mesmo, é que eles assistiriam a esse videio de cabeça para baixo, ou seja, o like virou um deslike.
@josecarlossiqueirafo9200
@Sam Fernandes pode ser que na hora de apertar o like estavam em tremedeira devido ao estado de Graça Divina e erraram o botão. há os mensageiros de satanás tb...kkk
Essa música eleva ao estado de Graça e bem aventurança.
Gratidão ao mestre Baden Powell!