Ivan Lins from A to Z

While promoting his latest CD, A Cor do Pôr-do-Sol, Ivan Lins met our staff - Tárik de Souza, Rodrigo Faour and Silvio Essinger – for an interview at the Rio headquarters of (record company) Abril Music. During the long and informal chat, he reviewed his 30-year career, told amusing stories – many of them related to the course of his music in the United States. From the first and frightful deal that Quincy Jones wanted him and his partner Vitor Martins to sign up to the hideous versions of his songs produced in America, as well as the project that Miles Davis had to record Ivan’s songs and the upcoming concert slated October 25 at the Carnegie Hall.

AllBrazilianMusic – What’s the Carnegie Hall concert going to be like? How do you feel about it?

Ivan Lins – The name is Love Affair – The Music of Ivan Lins. It is something very meaningful. It’s the third time I’ll be performing there – my first time was as a guest, invited by David Grusin, with whom I sang two songs. Then I returned two years ago, in a show promoted by César Camargo Mariano to celebrate Tom Jobim. Which reminds me of a funny situation that happened then. I was going to sing Vivo Sonhando with Al Jarreau. He was going to start the song in Portuguese and we rehearsed it to death because he was a bit insecure. Well, when the time came, he disappeared. And he was supposed to be singing "Você não vindo, não vindo..." ("You don’t show up, don’t show up..."), and since he didn’t show up, I decided to make an Al Jarreau impersonation, imitating his accent when he sings in Portuguese. The audience burst into laughing and, all of a sudden, there he is, watching me imitate him. So he tried to imitate me and it was so funny! We did some scatting, mouth beats, and the audience relished with it.

ABM – Is Quincy Jones still responsible for you repertoire outside of Brazil?

Ivan Lins – Not anymore. He administers about ten songs, which are the first ones that he used so as to introduce my music to foreign markets.

ABM – Is it true that you sold him the rights to Velas Içadas?

Ivan Lins – Nope. What happened was that the first contract that he sent us was appalling. It was quite barbarian and we had a fight with him. Vitor totally lost it when he read it – he was pissed. He called Quincy at home just to bug him. And Vitor did not speak English. He was screaming: "Quincy, I’m not singing this #*%!" (laughs) Then, he called Paulinho Albuquerque and asked him to intermediate the conversation: "Tell him that his lawyer is a son of a ... that I’m not signing this #+* anymore!!!" (hard laughs)

ABM – How did the Carnegie Hall project originate?

Ivan Lins – It was (producer) Jason Miles’ idea. He used to play the keyboards for Miles Davis and also worked with bassist Marcus Miller. He came across my music, as weird as it may sound, through Miles Davis. Somebody - I don’t know who - gave him my albums. (Producer) Tommy Li Puma found me and said that Miles wanted to make a full album with my songs only. It was a nutty conversation, because Miles called me up with that guttural voice of his, so I asked a friend to pick up the other phone and listen, in case I couldn’t understand one word or another. He said that my songs were great, but the recordings sucked, because they had too many notes... (laughs). That piece of conversation happened four months before his passing away. Marcus Miller would be the producer, and then Quincy would be the producer. One of the guys involved in the project was Jason. Because Miles loved Jason. So, through Miles, he learned a lot about my music and fell in love with it and told me: "I am going to do what Miles didn’t have the time to do." And he managed to raise the interest of Telearc (recording company). Jason did it all by himself, with his will and his guts. He’s quite obsessed; he’d make phone calls to all these singers’ managers and tire them up. Just like a fan would.

ABM – Was there a special song or recording that boosted your international career?

Ivan Lins – Yeah, the songs produced by Quincy. Dinorah, Dinorah, as recorded by George Benson, with which he won a Grammy in 1981 for best instrumental jazz arrangement; and Velas Içadas, recorded by Quincy, which won in the same category on the following year. It’s funny, because only my biggest fans know that song in Brazil. Whereas if I don’t sing it abroad, they’ll emasculate me.

ABM – Last year, you claimed that the English version of the lyrics for Começar de Novo (recorded by Barbra Streisand) made you embarrassed, and that you would never sing it in your own shows.

Ivan Lins – It was translated by Alan and Marylin Bergman – they write versions of Michel Legrand’s songs. It’s come out as a Hollywood type of writing that has nothing to do with the original concept. There’s a group that loves the versions made for my songs, and another group that hates it. Quincy Jones, for instance, loves them. But I was discussing the subject with American colleagues. To me, the best lyrics in America are the ones by Cole Porter, the ones from late 50s and early 60s. Then things started going too commercial, except for the rock kids – they always let it out for good. But in terms of pop music in America, the good lyrics stopped being written when the musical films started fading. And today, they regard that kind of writing as tacky. They think that playing with an idiom is "too Cole Porter", meaning it’s stale. They do respect Cole Porter, but would never work with lyrics like his, today.

ABM – Are there other American versions of your songs that you dislike?

Ivan Lins – Doce Presença. In English it’s become Sweet Presence – it even hurts my ears (laughs). It’s catastrophic.

ABM – Love Dance is one of your greatest hits outside of Brazil...

Ivan Lins – It’s one of the songs I like the most. And Gilson (Peranzzetta) only learned he was my partner on that one later. Because I picked a number of introductions he had written for my songs and wrote a new one out of those. Even the name was going to be Introductions. Gilson is a freaking good composer. The most beautiful introduction I’ve heard for my music. I reckon that song is a favorite in the United States.

ABM – In your new album, A Cor do Pôr-do-Sol, there’s a political song, Ladrão (Thief), which is followed by a rap version of Formigueiro. Do you always have to put such songs in your albums?

Ivan Lins – Yeah, I can’t let go of it. Makes me nervous, not to. I have to beat the hell out of things. I’ll do it even in my Christmas albums! (laughs)

ABM – That Christmas CD (Um Novo Tempo) was your top selling album, right? Why do you think that happened?

Ivan Lins – It’s my record. I managed to win my first platinum album (250.000 copies sold). I’ll credit the success to its originality. It is totally different form the others. What I did was to make Christmas a more Brazilian subject. I had Brazilian composers write Christmas songs, but respecting their own styles - related to Brazilian culture and not to import culture. And standards like Jingle Bells made it to the album because it helps not scaring the consumer away, but always with different arrangements and stuff. Jingle Bells became a xote. I turned 3 or 4 Christmas standards into Brazilian songs. Jingle Bells is the only American song in this album, because Brazilian Christmas came from European traditions, not American. On the countryside, the celebrations are all folklore-related. And my partner Celso Viáfora wrote the trademark song for that album, Papai Noel de Camiseta (Santa Claus in a T-shirt), to me, one of the most beautiful I’ve heard in a decade. That’s also when I realized he was going to be my partner.

ABM – You turned the song Formigueiro into a rap. Was it the first time you’ve rapped?

Ivan Lins – No. I rapped for the first time two years ago, in a show in the United States. I sang Deixa Isso Pra Lá (a Jair Rodrigues hit from the 60s), and I added Aldir Blanc’s lyrics about how we (Brazilians) were making rap way before the Americans. I was jokingly saying "You go to our country and steal everything" (laughs). The Brazilians in the audience laughed at my remark, but the Americans didn’t quite get it (laughs).