Lovely work from Bebel Gilberto – her debut for Verve – which in a way, brings her home, given that Verve released so many great records in the 60s from Brazilian artists with boundary skirting appeal! Bebel's work has never lacked warmth, but she's bringing even more of it to this set, with less clubby textures, and more of a timeless blend of voice, strings and percussion. Even the tunes produced or co-produced by John King of the Dust
Brothers and Mark Ronson are steeped in a real love of classic bossa
soul, just done with a nice modern groove, with some subtle programming. Carlinhos Brown's percussion is kind of the secret sauce here, but there's no overshadowing Bebel's lovely, wonderful vocals – and the covers are very well chosen. A little less than half the songs are sung in English, and titles include "Cancao De Amor", Bob Marley's "Sun Is Shining", Stevie Wonder's "The Real Thing", "Ela", "Far From The Sea", "All In One" and more.
(Brazil, New Grooves)