Very nice 2LP set that brings together a huge amount of Jorge Ben's best tracks from the 60's and early 70's. We hardly need to tell you how great this stuff is, but we should let you know that the set includes the tracks "Chove Chuva", "Mas Que Nada", "Take It Easy My Brother Charlie", "O Telefone Tocou Novamente", "Rita Jeep", "Charles Jr.", "Que Pena", "Zazueira", "Que Maravilha", "Pais Tropical", and lots lots more! LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning celebration of one of the greatest pairings in Brazilian music – and in American music as well, given that both Airto Moreira and Flora Purim recorded plenty of these cuts up in our neck of the woods! Airto's percussion is the stuff of legend – a key force in Brazilian recordings in the late 60s, and then equally important in American jazz – in famous recordings with Miles Davis and other artists, and plenty of great records on his own! Flora's vocals are equally crucial – a soaring, fluid approach that forever changed the way that female singers approached jazz – bred in 60s bossa, but instantly something new by the time the 70s came along – especially when Airto was supporting her with great grooves! This huge package brings together material that both artists recorded – often under the name of one or the other, but often with the other artist present on the recording – with a heavy batch of work from the 70s and 80s, but also crucial cuts from other years too! 5LP set features 37 tracks and a really great package – with titles that include "Love Lock", "The Happy People", "Hungry On Arriva", "The Road Is Hard", "Samba De Flora", "O Canto Da Sereia", "Jeito Bom De Sofrer", "Papo Furado", "Xibaba", "Back Streets Of Havana", "Vera Cruz", "Flora's Song", "When Angels Crie", "Celebration Suite", "Casa Forte", "Black Narcissus", "A Secret From The Sea", "O Cantador/I Just Want To Be Here", "Jump", and "Hot Sand". LP, Vinyl record album

Late 50s work from these two important Brazilian songwriters – served up here in a cool 70s package! The tracks have a nicely produced quality that makes them some of the most preferred recordings by the two artists – with strong arrangements that set off their voices nicely. There's no arranger listed that we can find, but the whole thing has a nice warm jazzy feel. Titles include "La Vem A Bahiana", "Inquietacao", "Maracangalha", "Risque", and "Dora". LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of a dream combination in one little album – especially if you dig breezy bossa from the 60s! Back in 1966, Verve Records got the great idea of teaming up its (then) biggest Brazilian imports – vocalist Astrud Gilberto and organist Walter Wanderley – both of whom were selling plenty at the time! Astrud's lovely vocals are matched beautifully with the lean, rhythmic bossa grooves of Wanderley's trio – and the result is a record that's near-perfect in execution. Most of the tracks are quite short, as is the record itself – but it's a perfectly concentrated dose of the Verve bossa sound at its best, with tracks that include "Portuguese Washerwoman", "Tu Meu Delirio", "A Certain Smile", "Call Me", "Here's That Rainy Day", "A Certain Sadness", "It's A Lovely Day Today", and a vocal version of Wanderley's big hit "Summer Samba", redone here as "So Nice"! LP, Vinyl record album

Given that Capitol had recently linked up with the ever-growing EMI corporation in the early 60s, it was able to take advantage of the global catalog of the music giant, and managed to dip pretty heavily into the Brazilian Odeon catalog of tunes to cash in on the American popularity of bossa nova. This album was one of their bigger imports, and it features material originally recorded in Brazil, with Gilberto up front, backed by arrangements by Jobim. This is the classic material that made Gilberto's fame in the early days – and titles include "Doralice", "O Pato", "Discussao", "Outra Vez", and "Corcovado". LP, Vinyl record album

A gorgeous album of Brazilian vocal jazz – a set that blends bossa roots, Brazilian jazz, and some of the sunnier touches you might find coming from Bay Area interpretations of the music in the late 70s/early 80s – such as work by Joyce Cooling or Viva Brasil! Patricia King handles the lead vocals and piano – and she's got this wonderfully soaring style that's also a bit like some of the hipper European vocalists who emerged in the wake of Tania Maria's important 70s recordings in Paris. Orlando handles guitars and a bit of vocals too – and the group has great basslines, flute, and plenty of percussion to really keep things lively – all of which makes for one of the best examples we've ever heard of this sort of style. Titles include "Sambawalk", "Choro Sambaiao", "Cancao Da Chuva", "Calma Mulher", "Num Dia Azul", and "Sinal Verde". LP, Vinyl record album

Lovely work from Marisa Monte – perhaps a bit sweeter than some of her earlier stuff, but pretty darn catchy, and with some excellent production by Arto Lindsay! The tracks have a mellow breezy feel, with a compressed production style that includes a lot of flanged-out guitar, subtle electronics, and warm acoustic touches. As with most of Marisa's albums, the record's filled with work by famous guest stars – like Joao Donato, Arnaldo Antunes, Marc Ribot, Carlinhos Brown, and others. Titles include "O Que Me Importa", "Nao E Facil", "Perdao Voce", "Abololo", "Gotas De Luar", and "Agua Tambem E Mar". LP, Vinyl record album

An important American album for the great Milton Nascimento – his first recorded in the US since the earlier Courage set for A&M – and like that record, a perfect bridge between the sound of his work in Brazil and the global modes that he had to offer! A key part of the set is the participation of Wayne Shorter on saxes – an artist that Milton had recorded with on the Native Dancer record – and the group also features work from Herbie Hancock on piano, Raul De Souza on trombone, Toninho Horta on guitar, and Airto on percussion – all jazzy talents who really keep things lean and groovy – in a style that's different than some of Nascimento's 70s work in Brazil. Tracks include "Raca", "The Call", "Os Povos", "Fairy Tale Song", "Francisco", "One Coin",and a nice remake of the classic "Cravo E Canela". LP, Vinyl record album

An essential introduction to the work of this legendary group – an important American issue of some of their best material – all of which never came out in our market back in the day! If you don't know Os Mutantes, prepare to be blown away – as they were a key part of the Tropicalia movement, alongside bigger names Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and Gilberto Gil – creating music that was years ahead of its time, but which has gone on to become legendary over the years! There's so many different elements going on here, it's impossible to pin down – avant and psychedelic modes, Brazilian styles and postmodern ones, all put together with sublime production that's also way ahead of the pack! This Luaka Bop presentation was put together by David Byrne – and it features a total of 14 cuts in all – including an English and Portuguese reading of the famous "Baby", plus the tunes "Ave Lucifer", "Desculpe, Babe", "Adeus Maria Fulo", "Panis Et Circensis", "Bat Macumba", "Dia 36", and "Fuga No II". LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued album by the great Hermeto Pascoal – recorded in the space between his 70s classics Slaves Mass and A Musica Livre – and every bit as amazing as those classics! The music here is fluid, open, and a fantastic mix of jazz and all of Hermeto's new ideas about musical structure – performed at a level that's highly organic, and with that completely individual vision that Pasocal brought to his sound from the start! This isn't typical Brazilian fusion of the time, but nor is it anything like the tighter sounds that Airto and Flora Purim were recording up in the US – instead, a musical mode that's completely in its own space, and which needs only one listen to convince you of the master's genius. The group here is overflowing with young talent – Lelo Nazario on keyboards, Nivaldo Ornelas and Mauro Senise on saxes and flute, Toninho Horta on guitar, Zeca Assumpcao on bass, and Ze Eduardo Nazario on drums – all important musical visionaries on their own, working together here to hit an even new level of creativity. Aleuda Chaves sings wordlessly on a bit of the record – and the whole thing has that blend of soaring sound and lyricism that marks Pascoal at his best. Titles include "Danca Do Paje", "Natal", "Casinha Pequinina", and "Mavumvavumpefoco". LP, Vinyl record album

Moody instrumental magic from Hareton Salvanini – an artist with an Italian sounding name, and an approach that reminds us of some of the hippest composers of the sound library and film score scene in Italy during the 70s! The album's all instrumental, and is almost a soundtrack for a film that never existed – as Salvanini mixes his own piano lines with these moody strings and dark-tinged instrumentation – all with a vibe that's maybe a bit warmer than David Axelrod or Johnny Harris, but in the same sort of territory as their important albums of the time! Weird reeds color in some moments, offbeat strings some others – and there's a suppressed sense of emotion that lingers with lots of blue currents on the record – really fitting Hareton's look on the cover. Titles include "Salamandras", "Viver", "So, "Primitivo", "Irracional", "Papa Mama", "Yelris", and "Preludio Em Si Bemol Menor". LP, Vinyl record album

Raul Seixas follows a similar path as Rita Lee, Caetano Veloso, and other important Brazilian artists of the 70s – and uses this live date to really pay tribute to the American music of the past that inspired his crazier work at the time – taking older songs of the 50s and 60s, but delivering them with some of the rawer energy he was bringing to his own tunes! Lyrics move between English and Portuguese effortlessly – as Raul takes on tunes that include "Roll Over Beethoven", "So Glad You're Mine", "My Baby Left Me", "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans", and "Blue Moon/Asa Branca". LP, Vinyl record album

Legendary Brazilian rocker Raul Seixas is at the top of his game here – stepping to the head of the stage in front of a very approving crowd, as he shifts between mostly Portuguese vocals and a few English language moments too – especially when he's stepping back into an earlier generation of the music! Yet throughout the set, Seixas has that ragged star power that made him such an important force in the Brazilian scene after his departure from Secos E Molhados – as you'll hear on titles that include "Metamorfose Ambulante", "Rock Das Aranhas", "Gita/Ouro De Tolo/Eu Nasci Ha Dez Mil Anos Atras", "Sociedade Alterniva", and "Rock Do Diaro". LP, Vinyl record album

Great live material from 1974, recorded in Bahia, and featuring Caetano, Gal, and Gilberto Gil – each performing tracks on their own! The quality's better than a lot of other Brazilian live albums from the early 70s, and the album's a strong one in Caetano's early 70s catalog – showing his keenly collaborative presence at the time, and offering up one of the few important documents of work with Tropicalia contemporaries Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil! Caetano sings "Felicidade", "De Noite Na Cama", and "O Conteudo"; Gal performs "Acontece" and "Quem Nasceu"; and Gil rounds out the set with "Terremoto", "O Relogio Quebrou", "O Sonho Acabou", and "Cantigo Do Sapo". LP, Vinyl record album