An Emotional Journey Through The Complete Bari Sessions

Fred Polet is the host of the long-standing Brazilian Blend, a weekly one-hour Brazilian music show on local radio station ORTS in Oosterhout, The Netherlands. It airs live on Thursdays at 9:00 PM locally on FM 106.2 and worldwide via live stream at www.orts.nl. The program repeats every Sunday at 9:00 PM, and if you miss the broadcast, you can catch up 24/7 at https://orts.nl/radio-programma-gemist/.

After releasing my album, "The Complete Bari Sessions", Brazilian Blend was the first to play some tracks. Fred Polet, who doesn't write reviews, emailed me his thoughts, which deeply moved me. Singing is my emotional outlet, and feedback like this brings me joy, affirming my music's connection with others. Here's an extract of Fred's impressions (shared with his permission):

"I finally found some time to listen very carefully to The Complete Bari Sessions, not missing a note or a solo or whatever. The emotions evoked by this album are so powerful that I got a lump in my throat and my eyes welled up with tears.

Then, after listening to the complete album, I saw in a Reel on Facebook how even you reacted so emotionally, almost crying with happiness while hearing your own recording. You and I seemed to have the same experience!

You made such a great album. I a-d-o-re it.

The repertoire you chose is great! The up-tempo Olhos Verdes opening the album caught me instantly, and it has a great piano solo. Glad to see that you included Ângela and especially Forever Green, which has not been recorded so many times until now, although Jobim himself recorded it already 30 years ago (time flies!!) on his last album. Your take on Olhos Negros is beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes as music hit me deep inside, often more than words! Nice also the singing in Italian by Marco Giuliani.

In fact, I love all the songs on the album. Great choice, no standard repertoire...The Girl...O Barquinho, One Note Samba...Corcovado... There’s absolutely nothing wrong with all those songs, but they were recorded so many times that it is hard to add anything to make them sound better.

Also, the recording sound quality of the studio that you used sounds superb. I give it a 10.

I cannot say that of all the thousands of albums that I have here. The album has a very clear and natural sound. It can't be any better than this.

You must be very proud of this album Amália, parabéns!!!! Very soon I hope to play some songs from the album in Brazilian Blend."

Bedankt lieve Fred Polet!