Garota Pop

This is the soundtrack to the 1967 Brazilian film "Garôta de Ipanema". There are plenty of stars on this collection - Elis Regina, Chico Buarque, Tamba Trio, Baden Powell, Quarteto em Cy and MPB-4, as well as instrumental orchestral interpretations. The style is mainly mid-to-late 60's bossa nova, with the exception of Ronnie Von's Tropicalia-eque pop version of "Por Você". The songs are by Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes, Chico Buarque and Ary Barroso. The production is lush and smooth - a nice, breezy addition to any Brazil nut's collection.

The Story of Bossa Nova features 20 remastered original recordings from the late '50s/early '60s combined with a few modern interpretations of the genre, including 14 tracks written by composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Taken from the vast EMI-Odeon archive of classic Brazilian music, this introductory set includes Marcos Valle's "Samba De Verao," Sylvia Telles' "Dindi," and the pre-Astrud Gilberto version of "Girl From Ipanema" by Pery Ribeiro.

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.

"Passione" is a lush collection of Mediterranean love songs featuring duets with Jennifer Lopez and Nelly Furtado. Bocelli is an international superstar with a myriad of breathtaking career achievements to his name. Here, Bocelli reunites with 16-time GRAMMY Award-winner David Foster. Foster produced his 2006 collection of romantic songs, "Amore", which sold over 2.5 million copies and debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200. Passione is essentially the second volume. It features several beloved classics including “Love Me Tender,” “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas,” “Il Nostro Incontro,” “Corcovado (Medley)” and more. It is a repertoire of endless beauty that collects some of the most intense songs of all time.

This two-fer from WEA International features a pair of out of print Sergio Mendes LPs: Great Arrival and Beat of Brazil. Originally issued on Atlantic Records in 1966 and 1967, respectively, these 22 easy listening, Latin pop songs include "Monday, Monday," "Desafinado," "Garôta de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema)," and "Here's That Rainy Day." This is a nice sampler of familiar items that should satisfy the needs of casual fans.