Bass Player: Rubens Sabino

Gilberto Gil is the voice of Brazil. His 1997 album ‘Soy Loco Por Ti America’ features Gil’s usual stable of Brazilian musicians including Ruben (Rubao) Sabino Da Silva, WE have been unable to find any substantive information about Sabino beyond his work with Gil and sessions with Tim Maia and the fantastically named Brazil Very Happy Band. Initial research suggests that Rubens changes his name every time he records so finding anything out about him is like herding cats.

The attached chart is Sabino’s bass part for the title tune of the Gil album referred to above. A lovely Latin groove that pushes the four. A challenging concept for a lot of bass players but, by reading the dots, you will quickly absorb the way a lot of Latin bass works, with the emphasis on that push rather than on the first beat of the bar like in a lot of ‘Western’ music.