| Latin Jazz |
Boas Lembranças (“good memories”, in Portuguese) is one of those rare debut albums that feels like the work of a fully formed artist who simply had to wait for the right moment to express himself. Guitarist Marcel Vallès, born in Els Guiamets in the province of Tarragona, spent three years living an immersive musical journey through South America, particularly Brazil, absorbing rhythms, forms, and ways of feeling music that European training alone could never have given him. This album is the fruit of those years, not a theoretical exercise, but a living, breathing document of a man transformed by a continent and its music.
Centred on a lyrical instrumental dialogue inspired by the composer’s personal experiences in South America, the eight compositions combine expressive rhythmic structures, subtle sonic textures, and melodicism to form a rich and emotional soundscape. From the very first notes it is clear that Vallès has absorbed the Brazilian guitar tradition not as a style to imitate, but as a language to think in.
His playing invites inevitable comparison to the great masters of the Brazilian guitar canon. There is the spirit of Baden Powell here, that fusion of jazz harmonies, classical left-hand technique, and a percussive, rhythmically driving right hand that allowed Powell to blend bossa nova, samba, choro, and Afro-Brazilian ritual music into a highly personal language. Vallès shares that same gift for turning the guitar into a complete ensemble, simultaneously voicing bass lines, harmonies, and melody in a way that feels effortless.
The album’s opening track Outra pro Baden is of course a direct and loving tribute, and it is one of the most heartfelt homages to the great master in recent memory. One also hears echoes of Egberto Gismonti, that fearless blending of folk, classical, and jazz sensibilities, and of Caetano Veloso’s restless poetic curiosity, always pushing past genre into something more personal and essential.
The tracklist is a journey in itself: Outra pro Baden, Choro pra ti, Viagem, Enigma, Salute to Africa, Babaião, the title track Boas Lembranças, and the closing Xamego each revealing new facets of a musician with both technical mastery and profound emotional intelligence. Salute to Africa is particularly striking, pointing toward the Afro-Brazilian roots that have always underpinned Brazilian music, a reminder that the music of Brazil has always been a music of the world.
And then there is Steve Shehan. Born on January 18, 1957, in Fort Eustis, Virginia, of a Cherokee father and a French mother, Shehan is one of the most celebrated and sought-after percussionists in the world of jazz and world music. His drumming has been requested by the greatest artists of the rock, folk and world scenes. He has collaborated with Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita, the Gipsy Kings, Khaled, John McLaughlin, among many others. His lyricism, his magic, and his rigour for the best rhythms reveal an audacious style that has revolutionised the art of percussion and world music.
The two musicians met at a festival in Morocco, where they connected immediately on a musical level. Vallès invited Shehan to participate in the album, and Shehan brings a wide rhythmic dimension through percussions drawn from many different world traditions, broadening the sonic landscape of the project and adding a genuinely global perspective. On tracks like Viagem, Enigma, and Salute to Africa, Shehan’s contribution is not merely accompaniment, it is conversation with Vallès. His touch is light where lightness is needed, deep and resonant where the music demands gravity, always serving the emotional truth of the piece rather than his own virtuosity.
The album is immersed at once contemporary Brazilian music and jazz, with openness to diverse influences, where the guitar occupies the central axis while leaving open space for percussion.
With this remarkable recording, guitarist Marcel Vallès confirms himself as a composer who deserves to be taken very seriously. What he offers here is far more than an elegant Brazilian music project or a Latin jazz record. Vallès’ compositions seem naturally limpid, seductive from the first listen, and what makes this cross-cultural jazz so effective is the level of talent and discipline required to make it feel effortless.
Boas Lembranças is far more than ‘um começo’ (a debut). ‘É uma chegada’ (it is an arrival). Marcel Vallès has brought back from South America not just melodies, emotions and rhythms, but a whole understanding of what music can carry, the weight of memory, the warmth of friendship, the irreplaceable richness of a time lived fully, shared in complete friendship.
An album from a duo that everyone would like to have as friends. A “favourite” (“coup de coeur” – “uma escolha do coração”) album that deserves to be included in the list of the very best debut albums. An exciting discovery, a revelation! Don’t miss it.
Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE
PARIS-MOVE, May 21st, 2026
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Musicians:
Marcel Vallès: Guitar
Steve Shehan: Percusion
Tracklisting:
- Outra pro Baden – 03:39
- Choro pra ti – 03:00
- Viagem – 03:12
- Enigma – 05:26
- Salute to Africa – 02:56
- Babaião – 03:07
- Boas Lembranças – 02:51
- Xamego – 04:29
All compositions by Marcel Vallès
Recorded at Studio Guará and Studio des Dhalias
Mixed and mastered by Ricardo Camera