Jerry Adriani's young bossa

"I was at the airport, the other day, giving autographs. This young lady turns to me and says: 'Look, this gentleman wants to talk to you'. The gentleman was wearing a suit made of wool and he went: 'I like you very much, I have been listening to your work. Cheers to you.' So I look at him right in the eye and I go: 'Wait a minute. You are João Gilberto!'". That's how surprised Jerry Adriani was, since he couldn't have figured that the bossa nova icon would be his fan - Adriani emerged from the jovem guarda (new school), an early rock movement that antagonized bossa nova.

Stimulated by João's words, the long time fan of Tom Jobim's built up some courage and decided to present a concert with bossa nova songs like Corcovado, Se Todos Fossem Iguais a Você, Eu Sei que Vou Te Amar, Estrada do Sol, Lígia and Águas de Março. "Before making the tribute CD with the music of Renato Russo, I was hired by Roberto Menescal's label, Albatroz. He had this project to get me and Jobim together on a disc that was supposed to be called Tom & Jerry. Unfortunately, Tom passed away and we couldn't do it", regrets the singer.

In his concert, in addition to the bossa tunes, Jerry will peform a few new school hits, such as Querida, as well as Italian versions of Legião Urbana's hits (Por Enquanto, Monte Castelo and Angra dos Reis) and songs from his upcoming CD, Tudo Me Lembra Você.

New album is different from the previous
Jerry is quick to point out that the follow-up of Forza Sempre (which sold more than 250 thousand copies) is drastically different from it. "The new album will be pop-ballad-oriented. In the concert, I am going to perform songs like O Amor que Eu Trouxe, which Zeca Baleiro wrote for me, and O Cavaleiro das Estrelas, which I wrote as an homage to Raul Seixas", reveals the star.

Jerry thinks it is curious that himself, Caetano Veloso and Tom Zé have all decided to do homage to the king of rock in Brazil almost at the same time (Caetano recorded Rock'n'Raul on the recently released Noites do Norte, and Zé recorded A Chegada de Raul Seixas e Lampião no FMI, on the disc Jogos de Armar. "I call it synchronicity. I am glad that we have had similar ideas, but we have done homage to Raul in different fashions. I have made something more personal, based upon my relation with him"

It was after a show that Jerry played in Salvador (Bahia), in 1967, accompanied by the band Os Panteras (Seixas' group), that the pioneering rocker was talked into trying to make it in Rio de Janeiro. Raul ended up working as a record producer at CBS, eventually producing Jerry's albums and writing (with Mauro Motta) one of Jerry's greatest hits, Doce, Doce Amor.

"Raul was my friend", says the singer. "He lived in my house for a long while. I am the godfather of his daughter Simone, who currently lives in the United States. Raul was very bright, had a very peculiar approach to things. He was always very original and critical, even toward himself. By the time that we met, he used to keep this notebook where he would write the most amazing things"

Jerry claims to have noticed quite rapidly that Raul would enjoy a very special place in the history of Brazilian music. "In fact, he was ahead of his time - he would ask me to do things that I would only be ready to do about ten years later. At the same time, he wouldn't let his image become stereoptyped, he never accepted labels. He liked everything that was different", finishes Jerry, whose 35-year career can be summed up as eclectic.