Brazil — Recently Added  

The 70s songs of Ze Rodrix get a great reworking here – handled by bold Brazilian singer Marya Bravo, who really knows how to open them up nicely! Production and instrumentation are right on the money – so much so, you'd swear that the set was a recording from years back – and ...

One of the greatest collections of work we've ever seen from Quarteto Em Cy – a CD that features their entire Som Definitivo album from 1964, plus 18 more bonus tracks pulled from two other albums! Som Definitivo is an incredible album – one in which the Brazilian female harmony ...

An incredible early album by this legendary Brazilian band with a strong late 60s/early 70s progressive flair! While not as countercultural as Os Mutantes or other Tropicalia artists, Som Imaginario shared with them a sense of pure musical inventiveness, and a love of psychedelic flourishes – ...

Warm, jazzy, and with plenty of the bossa nova promised in the title – a record that's not to be confused with Leny's singular Bossa Nova album from a few years before, because this is a pluralized set from the late 90s! Roberto Menescal's on board to direct the music – and gives the ...

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One of Joao Gilberto's first-ever albums – filled with incredibly beautiful bossa material that captures the vocals and guitar of Gilberto at their fragile early best – backed by sublime arrangements from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Walter Wanderley! The setting is perfect, and the sound ...

One of the best records in years from this Brazilian legend – a beautifully stripped-down set that mostly features Djavan on vocals and acoustic guitar – singing in an intimate space that's much more like Toquinho records from the 70s than it is any of Djavan's older work! There's a ...

Amazing stuff – the most intriguing album we've heard from Gal Costa in decades – and one of the first in many years to get back to the more experimental side of her music! The set was co-produced by Caetano and Moreno Veloso (who also play on the session as well), and it's really got ...

Wonderful work from the later years of Moreira Da Silva – a quartet of albums recorded for the Odeon label at the end of the 50s, and which really show Da Silva hitting a mature sort of stride! The timing was perfect for these sets – as improved studio techniques in Brazil really ...

Warm and wonderful later work from Edu Lobo – a session with some modern touches, but one that still rings out with all the depth of his best 70s albums! The arrangements on the set are by Cristovao Bastos, who uses just the right blend of jazz and lighter instrumentation to accompany Edu's ...

A hell of a great record – as you might already guess from the fact that Kassin produced the album, and it also features guest appearances by Chico Buarque and Tom Ze! Yet Thais Gulin is clearly the main draw here – a really lovely, inventive singer with a freshness that comes through ...

Lo Borges looks surprisingly youthful in the artwork for this CD – and his music sounds the same – every bit as fresh and personal as when he first sprang onto the scene with Milton Nascimento at the start of the 70s! As with other recent efforts, the songwriting is superb – as ...

A wonderful album of Joao Gilberto's early bossa tracks from Brazil – loaded up here with various numbers from other great Brazilian stars! The original one of the first few that he ever recorded, and it's a masterpiece of understatement, recorded with arrangements by a young Antonio Carlos ...

An amazing double-header – two great albums from Marcos Valle, brought together in one sweet package! First up is the self-titled album from 1970 – some of the most brilliantly baroque work ever recorded by Marcos Valle – an album that collects together tunes from a few of his ...

Mariana Aydar's really blowing our mind since the last time we heard her on record – stepping forth here with her deepest, most complex material ever – an album as rich in sounds and styles as some of our favorite Brazilian material from the 70s! There's this confidence to the ...

One of the loveliest singers we've heard from the Brazilian scene in years – working here in a set of gentle tunes with a hell of a lot of charm! Mallu Magalhaes has this raspy little quality in her voice – almost a Brazilian version of Charlotte Gainsbourg, but with a slightly warmer ...

One of the darkest records we've heard to date from Lenine – as if you couldn't guess from the title! Lenine's an artist who always grabs our ear – easily one of the most impressive song stylists in Brazil over the past decade or so – and like some of his best contemporaries, a ...

One of Airto's greatest records ever – a really hard hitting batch of tracks that mix sharp-edged fusion lines with some earthier Brazilian percussion touches – all in a way that nicely steps off of Airto's first few American releases, and warms the groove up with a nice dose of ...

A contemporary Brazilian set like few we've heard in years – very fresh and free-thinking, in ways that remind us of Brazilian material that excited us so much a decade ago! Pedro's got a really individual approach here – songs that feel personal, but never too intimate – served ...

Powerful stuff from singer Karina Buhr – formerly of the group Comadre Fulozinho, but sounding pretty amazing on her own! The album's got a much wider range than some other recent Brazilian efforts we've heard – some ethereal, experimental numbers – and other cuts that have a ...

One of Antonio Carlos Jobim's greatest records – and a perfect blend of his subtle bossa genius with the moody electric sound of CTI! Jobim plays electric and acoustic piano, guitar, and sings a bit – and Deodato handled the arrangements with a breezy brilliance that matches all the ...

One of Airto's most polished records, and an album that we've really grown to love over the years! There's a pretty strong modern soul/R&B component to the album – but at the core, there's still a strong feeling for Brazilian rhythms, and the record's got a wonderfully warm Brazilian ...

2 great records by this overlooked samba genius – an artist who's never gotten that much exposure in the US! Espelho is a set that grabs us right away – light in construction, but packed with plenty of power – thanks to a core batch of instruments that really keep to the samba ...

Toninho Horta, in very classic formation – flowing out with that warm blend of acoustic and electric elements we've always loved in his music – and getting help here from a wide array of guests! About half the tracks feature a different guest star – and the album includes ...

Warm and wonderful work from Vinicius Cantuaria – a really timeless-sounding set, with all the samba elements you'd hope for from the title! Vinicius still has that great raspy quality in his vocals here, but the sound is nicely mellowed with age – and given a nice jazzy component by ...

One of the most intimate records we've ever heard from Monica Salmaso – a set that mostly just features the piano of Nelson Ayres and a bit of flute from Teco Cardoso! The light instrumentation is mighty nice, and seems to bring out an even richer style in Salmaso's vocals – a more ...

We've always loved the music of Paula Morelenbaum, but this time around she's really got something special going on – thanks to keyboards and vocals from the legendary Joao Donato! Most of the tunes in the set are Donato numbers – themselves already a treat, but given a little ...

Flora Purim's first LP – and one of the coolest albums ever cut by this legendary Brazilian singer! The record's unlike Flora's later fusion work in the US – and features strong late bossa arrangements with a nice jazzy finish. The group's an all-star lineup of Brazilian 60's jazz ...

Legendary work from Milton Nascimento – one of his first LPs, and still one of his greatest! The record is amazing – a sublime blend of soulful vocals, baroque orchestrations, and just the right amount of jazzy touches – handled in a way that forever proclaimed Milton as one of ...

Killer work from Wilson Simonal – a singer who brought plenty of soul to his samba! Simonal's got a groove that's somewhere in the territory of early work by Jorge Ben – upbeat, lively, and filled with joy – lots of very groovy rhythms that draw from samba roots, but inflect the ...

Searing samba soul from Jorge Ben – one of his best-remembered albums of the 70s, and for good reason too! The album's got a slightly fuller feel than some of Ben's other work of the time – never slick, but with backings balanced nicely against his own raspy vocals and acoustic guitar ...

A beautifully spare album from Caetano Veloso – one of his greatest albums of the 80s, and quite unlike anything else he did in the decade! The sound here is almost a bit like Joao Gilberto's classic 1973 album for Polydor – mostly just acoustic guitar and vocals, recorded with a ...

Beautiful stuff – and one of Milton Nascimento's greatest albums of the 70s! The style here is a bit more subdued than on some of his later work – but in a way that's really majestic and soulful, showing the further development of Milton's unique idiom as he becomes one of the ...

Easily the best record so far from Maria Rita – a set that really pushes her talents a lot, and reaches for a wider range of expression! The vocals are still very much at the forefront – that great legacy from mother Elis Regina, with a similar heavenly approach that works with just ...

A killer album of jazzy bossa grooves – originally recorded in France in the early 70s, and darn hard to find in any format! The record was cut for the tiny Saravah label – home to groovy French acts like Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, as well as an elite group of jazz and world ...

A killer set of grooves recorded live by this legendary Brazilian guitarist – and a record of his that we've always sold extremely well over the years! The setting is a stripped down stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival – where Sete grooves in an open-ended fashion with only bass and ...

US issue of an obscure Sergio Mendes set of bossa jazz instrumentals, originally recorded in Brazil, but repackaged here under the name Quiet Nights. The set is pretty laid back, with a breezy bossa sound that's quite nice – and there's also a few tracks that groove a bit more in an uptempo ...

One of the funkiest albums Sergio Mendes ever recorded – a monster of a record that's filled with enough dancefloor groovers to have had a big impact on the soul market in the US! There's still elements of the older Mendes modes – especially in the way the vocals float nicely through ...

A classic double-length collection of work by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 – titled a "Foursider" because of the 2LP format! The package is overflowing with greatness by the group – and the extra space allows the set to include some real gems from the later A&M years ...

An excellent little album that Sergio recorded in the US – with a sweet funky electric sound that's very different than his other work! At some level, the album has a feel that's almost like a hip 70s soundtrack – sporting these great arrangements by Dave Grusin that bring in a lot ...

A great later album by Jobim – one that has him working with "the new band", which includes younger talents like Danilo Caymmi on flute and vocals, Sebastiao Neto on bass, Jacques Morelen baum on cello, and Paulo Jobim on guitar and vocals. Jobim's voice is wonderfully aged and ...

Dreamy bossa pop from the A&M studios of the 60s – the Brasil 66 sound at its best! The style here is a perfect blend of real Brazilian influences and some of the hipper styles bubbling in the LA studio scene of the time – all locked together perfectly by Sergio Mendes, in the twin- ...

A real classic – one of Tania Maria's greatest American albums, and a sublime blend of styles that shows that her move to the US was not in vein! The group's an easy going west coast Latin ensemble with Eddie Duran on guitar, and the style is a breezy Brazilian one – perfectly situated ...

Great stuff! Tania Maria's first few years recording in the US were some of her best – and this excellent groover on Picante features some very tight Brazilian jazz tracks, cut with a small combo of west coasters, and produced by Cal Tjader with a smooth jazzy vibe. The overall sound is ...

More slickly produced than Tania's earlier albums of bossa jazz from Europe – but a very nice record of mellow fusiony grooves, with some excellent work on the keys from Tania, and her usual bright vocals firmly in place. Jon Lucien guest stars on the track "The Rainbow Of Your ...

Wild is hardly a word we'd use to describe Tania Maria – mostly because we love her smooth jazzy approach to Brazilian material, one that's been honed to a "T" by this point, but never dampened in enthusiasm and honesty. The set's a great one with a strong acoustic group – ...

The second album by Sergio and crew – and a real push forward for the group! The basic format of two-female harmony leads is still in place – but for some reason, this album gives a bit more of a nod to Brazilian roots than before, and really spices things up with an even more ...

One of Tania Maria's sweet early LPs for Concord, with a nice modern Brazilian groove that differs from her earlier bossa LPs from the 70's, but which still has a beautiful melodic fusion feel to it. Tania plays piano and keyboards, and she's joined by a smooth Bay Area ensemble that includes ...

After coming up with classic compilations of MPB and Samba, David Byrne and the Luaka Bop crew turn their interests to Forro – folksy party music from the Northeast of Brazil, with surprising ties to Tex/Mex traditions, but an overall approach that's more sophisticated. There's a total of 18 ...

One of the greatest albums ever from Caetano Veloso – a rare all-English language set, recorded in London during the years of his exile! The post-Tropicalia set is a fair bit different than any other Veloso album we can think of – not just because of the English language, but also ...