After this second concert [in Sao Paolo, 1968] we go to a little club whose owner has been persuaded by Peter Solmssen, the U. S. Cultural Affairs Officer, to bring in some of the native cats from the mountains. There is quite a bit of jazz being exhibited in Brazil by both local and visiting musicians, and I really don't need to hear that, for I hear it every day. I want to hear Brazilian music… [W]hen I eventually get to concentrate on the sounds I realize that this is the nearest I have ever been to Africa musically--apart, that is, from our trip to Dakar [Senegal] last year. Yet it is not really African: it is their music. They use instruments found everywhere--guitar, bass guitar, piano, mandolin--and the mystique is in their very personal styling, and in the way they use the drums--bongos, conga, and cuica. The cuica is a drum with a string through the head which is used to increase and decrease tension. It is a fascinating instrument in the hands of an expert, which this guy is, and he tells a story on it that is full of hilarious innuendo. Another cat sings with an extraordinary piano accompanist. He sings in Portuguese, and although I don't understand a word, I am convinced his every syllable is the truth. << less