January 2025
Craft Recordings / Milestone Records CR00767
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I hadn’t heard of the Uruguayan jazz trio Opa until Craft Recordings reissued the group’s US debut, Goldenwings, in its Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf series. The label’s audiophile series has returned a few lesser-known albums by well-regarded jazz musicians, such as Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw, to vinyl. It has also brought back work by artists who deserve wider renown, including pianist Patrice Rushen.
Opa falls into the second category. Keyboardist Hugo Fattoruso and his brother George, a drummer, asked bassist Ringo Thielmann to join them to form a trio. All three were singers as well as instrumentalists, and the trio played at clubs in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, before striking out for greater fame in New York City in 1970. Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira heard the trio and hired them to be part of his band. Moreira, well established in the US by that time, had played with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis, and was a founding member of Chick Corea’s jazz-fusion group, Return to Forever.
The three musicians played on Moreira’s fourth album, Fingers (1973), and Hugo Fattoruso appeared on other Moreira albums as both composer and instrumentalist. In 1976, Moreira brought the trio into Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, to record Goldenwings, the first of two LPs by Opa he would produce for release on Milestone Records. Moreira played on Goldenwings, and he brought in Brazilian music legend Hermeto Pascoal to play flute and percussion. American guitarist David Amaro guested on a couple of tracks.
The Fattoruso brothers wrote the title song, a wonderful slice of Latin jazz–rock fusion that features Hugo on Fender Rhodes piano. George’s drums establish a solid groove, augmented by Moreira’s congas and some additional percussion from Pascoal. Thielmann uses an effect that gives his fluid and funky bass lines some texture, and he locks together with the drums to give the tune dance-floor potential. Hugo overdubs synth lines that expand the arrangement, and then trades synth and electric-piano solos as the percussionists push things along.
Opa shows its vocal skills on “Paper Butterflies (Muy lejo te vas),” one of two tracks by Rubén Rada, an established star in Uruguay. The tune’s enchanting melody is aided by airy, charming vocal harmonies that flow effortlessly. Pascoal’s lovely flute solo is buoyed along by Moreira’s witty percussion accents, and the song’s lengthy instrumental passages establish a dreamlike feel that Hugo Fattoruso enhances with his understated, tasteful work on the Rhodes.
The other Rada track, “African Bird,” also features impressive harmony vocals, but the arrangement emphasizes the complex rhythmic interaction of Moreira, Pascoal, and George Fattoruso. Hugo Fattoruso fires off another exciting excursion on electric piano and Pascoal matches his intensity with a burning flute solo. Thielmann’s melodically inventive and rhythmically elastic bass playing, here and throughout Goldenwings, led me to wonder why he’s not better known.
“Corre Niña” is an upbeat, fast-paced track with some very pretty vocal harmonies and splashy, exciting percussion. George Fattoruso’s electric piano once again sets the atmosphere for the song, but he throws in some accordion solos for a delightful and unexpected change of pace. “Pieces” is a four-part suite with a spacy opening reminiscent of Return to Forever. This segues into a relaxed, slow-building section, layered with synths, percussion, flute, and voices, and the result is a successful fusion of funk, jazz, and bossa nova.
Goldenwings shows its 1970s jazz origins but transcends them. Amaro’s guitar solos on “Goldenwings” and “Groove” use distortion and other effects that would sound dated but for his subtle shifts in dynamics and his improvisational skill. The grand vocal arrangement in the last section of “Groove” moves the song away from somewhat predictable fusion and into something more unusual and satisfying.
Goldenwings has a lot in common with Moreira’s music in the ’70s—not surprising, given that he produced the album. It also reminds me of Brazilian singer Flora Purim’s albums from that period. Purim is Moreira’s wife, and she and Opa were both on Mainstream Records. At about the same time Opa recorded Goldenwings, Moreira, Pascoal, and Amaro were in the studio with Purim to record Open Your Eyes You Can Fly.
Perhaps because it leans toward Latin jazz, Goldenwings sounds fresher than other examples of ’70s fusion. It also helps that the album is filled with strong melodies. The two tunes by Rada are ear-friendly, but the Fattoruso brothers also wrote very appealing songs. It’s puzzling that the record didn’t get any traction. My guess is that Mainstream didn’t promote it.
Kevin Gray mastered the Jazz Dispensary reissue of Goldenwings. Playback of the vinyl on my system was expansive, with a deep soundstage that presented each percussion instrument clearly and allowed me to hear the synth textures. I also streamed the album on Amazon Music, where it is labeled as HD, Amazon’s designation for CD quality. The source is likely a 1997 Milestone CD reissue that combined Goldenwings and Magic Time, Opa’s second release for the label. The streaming version sounded dull in comparison to the vinyl’s deep and wonderfully detailed presentation.
Considering the obscurity of Goldenwings, I was pleased with the care Craft took in the manufacturing and packaging of the album. RTI pressed the vinyl, and my copy was quiet, flat, and accurately centered. The cover is heavyweight cardboard with tipped-on artwork, and the disc is housed in a high-quality antistatic inner sleeve.
When Opa broke up in the early ’80s, Hugo and George Fattoruso returned to Montevideo to continue making music. George died in 2012, but Hugo still records. I had some trouble tracking Thielmann down, but he does appear to have played on some later recordings in South America. I’m glad the musicians in Opa were able to stay in music. I’m also pleased that Craft decided to reissue this delightful album so that I could discover Goldenwings, nearly 50 years after its original release.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
