In 1958, the singer Paulo Marquez recorded his LP
Doutor em samba for Columbia, with a wonderful team: Radamés Gnattali (arrangements/piano),
Chiquinho Do Acordeon (accordion), Zé Menezes (guitar), Vidal (bass),
Luciano Perrone (drums), Zé Bodega (sax), and the Columbia Orchestra, conducted by Gnattali. After the recording, the engineer Umberto Contardi convinced
Billy Blanco to put his own voice over the recorded arrangements. It wasn't intended to be for real, as those were the times of the strong, potent bel canto voices, in which ranks obviously
Blanco does not belong. But Contardi kept the recorded tracks for 37 years, and they are presented on this CD, after a critical digital remastering. With funny, irreverent lyrics, which highly contrast the rigorous yet relaxed arrangements, mostly making fun with politicians, famous, and powerful public figures (Chatô), the interest of this album is not restricted to that, representing a good opportunity for making contact with Brazil's music, arrangements, instrumentation, and orchestration still untouched by bossa nova's standards.