A totally sweeeeeeeet batch of Brazilian grooves – recorded in San Francisco, with a great 70s Bay Area sound! Victor M leads the group on percussion and vocals – but the real charm of the set is in its electric piano riffing, and soulful electric vibe. Most of the cuts have vocals – kind of in a Sergio Mendes 70s style, or in the mode of some of Marcos Valle's more electric work – and although the tunes are mostly familiar numbers like "Reza", "Agua De Beber", "Zazueira", "Upa Neguinho", and "Crickets Sing For Anamaria", they're done in a mode that's very fresh – kind of a bridge between 60s Brazilian interpretations, and later ones by recent groups! CD

One of the greatest albums by Victor Assis Brasil – a brilliant sax player who was one of Brazil's greatest jazz talents in the 70s! On this set, Victor really tightens things up from some of his spacier post-Coltrane albums of earlier years – crackling with a firey approach to the material, and hitting some great grooves on alto sax with a sharpness that we'd expect from American players like Lou Donaldson or Hank Crawford! Backing is a quartet with piano, vibes, bass, and drums – and the album includes the stellar triple tempo version of "Night and Day" that's forever made Victor a favorite with the jazz dance scene – plus the cuts "Nada Sera Como Antes", "Penedo", "O Cantador", and "Pedrinho". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic batch of jazzy grooves – featuring Claudio Medeiros and Victor M of the group Made In Brasil, plus other associates from the Bay Area fusion scene of the 70s! The record's got a strong mix of mellow tunes and funkier ones – with touches of Brazilian jazz and CTI fusion swirled together in a San Francisco sunny mode. The set includes the incredible groover "Soar", which has nice moog bubbling through a jazzy midtempo groove – and features many other great tunes like "Cachaca", "Generous", "Green Olives", "Grape Woman", and "Rotation". CD

A classic groover from Yasuko Agawa – proof that the Japanese scene had an ear for soul in the years before Monday Michiru! The early 80s set is made up from equal parts jazz, soul, and Brazilian influences – all used nicely with tight, fusiony production that really works nicely with Yasuko's lighter-voiced approach to the lyrics. One of the highlights of the record is a remake of Viva Brasil's "Skindo-Le-Le", a great little groover with a catchy riff that's right in the Gilles P mode – but other tracks are pretty great too, and come together in a mix of different modes that's somewhat similar to an American jazzy soul album from the same time. Most of the arrangements are by keyboardist Naoya Matsuoka – and titles include "She-Senior Dreams", "Cinema", "Island Breeze", "Here & Now", and the very appropriate "Pardon My English". CD