On Sunday, March 15th, as the third installment of the VTech and Mochilla Timeless series takes place, Madlib, DJ Nuts, and Airto Moreira are just a few supporting players taking part in welcoming Arthur Verocai to his first ever live performance in Los Angeles. Truly, a can’t miss performance.

Arthur Verocai

For those still unsure about the power of Arthur Verocai’s self-titled 1972 debut album, 36 years later, his influence remains throughout the music world, especially in today’s hip hop culture.

Arthur Verocai album

“Arthur Verocai is a genius, one of the finest“ -Quantic, DJ and Producer

“I could listen to the (Arthur Verocai) album everyday for the rest of my life” - Madlib, hip hop producer

“Em 1972 falaram que ele estava maluco… sua musica é agora.” - DJ Nuts

“When I listen to Arthur’s music it makes me glad to feel alive. It doesn’t get any better than this,” -Harmonic 313.

“Arthur Verocai is living proof that soul transcends generations, races, and creeds. If you are a producer and don’t know who this guy is……. then you don’t know soul music at its best….. Welcome to Brazillian Soul……………. meet Arthur Verocai” -9th Wonder, hip hop producer

“When I listen to Arthur’s music it makes me glad to feel alive. It doesn’t get any better than this” - Mark Pritchard/ Troubleman

“Of all the Brazilian music I have encountered, this is my favourite record” -Yoshihiro Okino, Kyoto Jazz Massive

“A touch of folk, more than a hint of funk, jazz-style solos, amazing 20-piece string arrangements, and a blending of electronics and keyboards with organic sounds and social commentary… You could easily get laid to this stuff.” -Water Magazine

“With influences stretching from Milton Nascimento and Herbie Hancock to Frank Zappa and Jimmy Webb, Verocai was very much a product of the Tropicalia era, drawing on the music of the exterior to speak to the oppressed youth. Touching on folk, jazz cinema music and early electronica Verocai’s self-titled album is a stunning piece of work and worthy of comparisons with the lo-fi sound of Shuggie Otis and the orchestral soul of Charles Stepney. A wonderful discovery.” -Straight No Chaser

“Verocai’s self-titled album from 1972 is an amazing album full of psych-funk arrangements and jazz-pop sounds that continue to be a landmark for the music of post-Tropicalia Brazil…it’s one of my favorite albums of all time!” -Lin Yee Yuan, Associate Editor at Theme Magazine

“The name Arthur Verocai may not ring a bell with even the keenest Brazilophiles, but this 1972 debut has been reissued principally because internationalist DJs like Rainer Trüby and Gilles Peterson have worked it into their sets, sprinkling their cool dust on it. Verocai had a pop-jazz-symphonic vision, employing sad, soaring melodies and advanced harmonyh, similar to Milton Nascimento’s early collaborations with Lo Borges and Fernando Brant.” -Ben Ratliff, Tracks

“Arthur Verocai was an accomplished producer and arranger when he released this long-lost 1972 album that still sounds like nothing else. It turned out to be a crucial bridge between the experimental pop of the 1960s Tropicalia era and the deep funk that followed.” - Aaron Cohen, Downbeat Magazine

Take Brazilian producer Arthur Verocai’s music on its face, and you can group him with David Axelrod, Charles Stepney, and oter Maerican studio wizards from the ‘70s who wrangled psychedelia and orchestral arrangements into an R&B context. But unlike Axelrod or Stepney, Verocai did his thing under a military dictatorship that regularly jailed artists, censored lyrics and banned suggestive stage dancing. LuvN’Haight’s reissue of Verocai’s rare, eponymous solo album from 1972 offers a snap shot of a sonic craftsman working in- and subtly commenting on – a political and artistic environment controlled by the badge and the gun.

You can’t exactly call Verocai an outright renegade; he both produced largely uncontroversial Brazilian artist of the time like Jorge Ben and Gal Costa and composed TV themes. But he generously sprinkles Arthur Verocai’s pop-soul casserole with the kind of intriguing flavors that would later on current retro-experimentalists like Stereolab and Zero 7: snarling horn-section lines, sharp string-section stabs, and the twinkling electric-piano solos. - Ron Nachmann (SF Weekly)

“Timeless has showcased legendary composers’ lasting mark on hip-hop music in each of their own unique ways. The response that these artists have received has been remarkable and illustrates their relevance to every generation. We are thrilled to have Arthur Verocai headline our third concert in the series.” -Tom Bacon, VP of Marketing, VTech Communications. “

Arthur Verocai is something else again- a lost slice of Brazilian psychedelic samba-pop from 1972 that shows hippie-era culture from another angle. -Entertainment Weekly

Sunday, March 15th, 2009
7-11pm / All Ages / $22.50 Limited Presale / $32.50 After
*Presale Tickets Available @www.ticketmaster.com and
The Luckman Box Office +1 323 343 6600
(Please keep in mind that these are assigned seating events – in order to sit together you MUST purchase your tickets together – to view seating chart please go http://luckmanarts.org/seatingchart.php)
*Presale + early arrival is STRONGLY suggested*

Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex
Cal State University Los Angeles
5151 State University Drive. Los Angeles. 90032