Mandala - Mandala (1976)

The one and only album from this Brazilian band.

Mandala was a quintet with a lineup of bass, drums, flute, saxophone, guitars, percussion, synths and some vocals.

A Brazilian friend with the same approach to music as mine tipped me off about this album and I went to Youtube to have a look and listen. A very good tip off it was.

I am still a jazz newbie and this album/band is among the most hardcore jazz albums I have so far reviewed for this blog and # 1 of this blog.  

There is a lot of Weather Report, Return To Forever and some Soft Machine in their music. Music with a lot of good saxophone and piano solos.

There are also some more melancholic band pieces in addition to the solos. The piano is very good on both the solos and the band pieces.

There is also a lot of pretty standard jazz stuff here with the rhythm section following this classic structure. Yes, I am a jazz newbie.

As a prog rocker, I really like this album a lot. It is indeed a good half an hour jazz album. Check out this album.

3 points