Digging through record crates to find that rare soul music from Brazil

There's a new collection of old funk and soul tracks from Brazil I want to tell you about. 

The collection was put together by two record crate diggers: Greg Caz in Queens and Jeff Swallom in Boston. 

It's available on CD, but (and here's the cool part) it's also available in a box set of old-style 45s.

He says, "Many people think the 45 format is kinda dead, no one's every using it, but there really are a lot of nightclubs and DJs throughout the world that strictly play 45s. So I really wanted this music to first off come out, but secondly to come out in the 45 format so those DJs can play it."

Jeff Swallom created his own record label, Cultures of Soul, to help spread the gospel of rare vinyl from the 1960s and 70s.

He came to our studio recently to spin some of his favorite tracks. One of the artists was Toni Tornado. Swallom tells us, "He's still kicking around now. He's in his 80s. He grew up in Brazil and actually spent about five years living in the States."

Here's a video I found of Toni Tornado playing live in 2011. 

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The rarest song in the collection Swallom says is by the group 2001 & Beto. "It's sort of a mysterious production group," he told me. "There really isn't much known about them. And it's one that collectors are trying to find, so it was great really to have it on this collection for them."

Swallom listened to at least 50 records before he made his final selection of 14 tracks and that Greg Caz listened to hundreds more. 

Ultimately though, "these were chosen because they're my favorites and also there's a wide range … they all fit together and they fit together as a box set."