After bouncing around Philips, Atlantic, and Capitol playing Brazilian jazz or searching for an ideal blend of Brazilian and American pop, Sergio Mendes struck gold on his first try at A&M (then not much more than the home of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and the Baja Marimba Band). He came up with a marvelously sleek, sexy formula: dual American female voices singing in English and Portuguese over a nifty three-man bossa nova rhythm/vocal section and Mendes' distinctly jazz-oriented piano, performing tight, infectious arrangements of carefully chosen tunes from Brazil, the U.S., and the U.K. The hit was Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada," given a catchy, tight bossa nova arrangement with the voice of Lani Hall soaring above the swinging rhythm section…

Jacintha picks up the tempo on her first bossa nova session. Featuring a program of some of the most well known classics of the genre, including several Jobim favorites like So Nice, Desafinado, Dindi and Corcovado, as well as less familiar tunes like O Ganso and So Danco Samba, this CD is a striking change of pace for Jacintha. With superb work from tenor Harry Allen and guitarist John Pisano (ex-Diana Krall), the album's supreme finishing is the magical playing of legendary Brazilian master percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, who blesses the entire album with an authentic bossa nova vibe.

Bossa Nova translated as the "new beat" or "the new style", grew out of Rio De Janeiro in 1958. The instigators were a handful of artists with a desire to break from tradition, developing the samba rhythms with the influence of cool American jazz to find a music with such a warm soul and natural rhythm that no-one can help but tap and sway to its beat. Bossa Nova is palm trees swaying, it is like melting sugar in hot coffee, it is the setting sun and warm sand underfoot. It is the sound and beat of Brazil, it is one of the world's coolest musical styles and it remains to this day one of the world's great musical treasures.

Bianca Gismonti, daughter of famed Brazilian Composer, Guitarist and Pianist Egberto Gismonti brings us the new album Gismonti 70.

In the year in which Toquinho celebrates his 70th birthday and 40 years of career, marked by his first solo LP, Discobertas brings together the solo albums that the guitarist, singer and composer released in his first 10 years of solo work. In parallel with the rich discography as a duo with Vinicius de Moraes, at that time Toquinho began a solid solo career - to which we think it is fair to add the rare special project 'Botequim', a unique partnership with Gianfrancesco Guarnieri and featuring the singer Marlene.

Back in the jungle: Music can take you places far far away by just pressing the play button. The album Deep Brasil by Deep Forest is a good example of this; it is like a one way ticket to the Amazonas. In a way it is the first return to the style of Deep Forest’s ground breaking album titled Deep Forest - with the smash hit Sweet Lullaby - since Deep Forest’s more recent albums didn’t focus directly on the forest and jungle, but more “open spaces” in Eastern Europe (Boheme), South America (Comparsa) and the Pacific (Pacifique). But with Deep Brasil the band took us into the warm and damp forest once more, to experience the nature and the people. And wow, what a journey it is!
The album is formed by the vocals of Flávio Dell’Isola and Michel Villain, perhaps making Deep Brasil more of a world album than a new age album.

Gabriela Anders got her big break singing a duet with soft jazz giant Michael Franks, and like that new age patriarch, Anders wraps laid-back vocals around even more tranquil rhythms. It's all very calming and proficient and breezy. Wanting, her debut album, mixes bits of her Argentine heritage with late-'70s California jazz, so Brazilian music coasts along with soft and hazy saxophone fills and tapping percussion leads. It all can be very pretty, as the opening "Fire of Love" represents Anders at her most relaxed and relaxing.

A nice collection of work by the team of Toquinho and Vinicius De Moraes - featuring tracks from their Philips recordings.
Guitarist and composer Toquinho (b 1946) and Vinícius recorded as a duo during the '70s (until Vinícius's death). Together they created exuberant, joyful music that was also very popular - in Brazil and abroad.

Influenced by Brazilian pop and the music of her native Argentina, Gabriela Anders spent much time in America soaking up jazz and R&B sensibilities, all of which inform her singing. The daughter of a jazz saxophone player, Anders studied classical guitar while a child but moved to piano study at a Buenos Aires conservatory. She spent much time in New York as well, soaking up the music of tenor specialists John Coltrane, Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon. She also studied with Don Sebesky and began singing with Grover Washington, Jr. and Tito Puente while going to college. A brief time in Japan resulted in her first album, 1996's Fantasia (recorded as Beleza), though she had returned to New York by 1997. After sending a demo tape into Warner Jazz, Anders signed a contract and released Wanting in August 1998.

Rosnes Artfully Reimagines Quintessential Brazilian Songs, Joined by Two of Brazil’s Greatest Artists and Composers, Edu Lobo and Joyce Moreno and also features American and Brazilian Stars, including Maucha Adnet, Chris Potter, Steve Davis, Chico Pinheiro, John Patitucci, Adam Cruz, and Rogério Boccato.

While it's true that Luiz Bonfá is a forgotten name among many bossa nova lovers - past and present - a forgotten name rarely associated with his younger peers he influenced (Jobim, Gilberto, de Moraes) who took the music to international popularity. Bonfá is a ghost whose shadow looms large over the music, whether he is well known or not. He composed both main themes for Black Orpheus, which ended up on the hit soundtrack. Here Bonfá does what he does best: play an amazing guitar, arrange a series of uncredited session players, sing, and dig deep into the roots of bossa nova as it comes out of samba, but then return it changed but folded into the tradition. Tracks like "Samba de Duas Notas" ("Two Note Samba"), with its beautiful guitar/flute front line slipping around and through one another in the bridge, are typical of this man's artistry and innovative…