Welcome to Brazil [14 Cd]

This collection by the wonderfully gifted Brazilian vocalist Astrud Gilberto (wife of singer/songwriter and guitarist Joao) features 18 tracks including 'I Had The Craziest Dream', 'Look To The Rainbow', '(Take Me To) Aruanda', 'Fly Me To The Moon' and more. The honey-toned chanteuse on the surprise Brazilian crossover hit "The Girl From Ipanema," Astrud Gilberto parlayed her previously unscheduled appearance (and professional singing debut) on the song into a lengthy career that resulted in nearly a dozen albums for Verve and a successful performing career that lasted into the '90s. Though her appearance at the studio to record "The Girl From Ipanema" was due only to her husband João, one of the most famed Brazilian artists of the century, Gilberto's singular, quavery tone and undisguised naïveté propelled the song into the charts and influenced a variety of sources in worldwide pop music.

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.

As one of the most loved jazz vocalists, modern jazz heroines, and prolific vocalists, Rosemary Clooney gives a very beautiful and feminine side to Brazilian jazz on Brazil, a sensitive musical feeling of 16 ripe standards. This wonderful collection is dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, and Nelson Riddle through her amazing ambience of sensitive phrasing, lovely nuance, and splendid rhythmic shadings. Rosemary Clooney is joined by the lovely Diana Krall on "Boy from Ipanema" in a stunning vocal duet accompanied by Oscar Castro-Neves on guitar. John Pizzarelli sings "Wave," with the light, airy brilliance of a light kept burning throughout the night, and duets with Clooney on "Desafinado," "One Note Samba," "Let Go," "Dindi," and the reprise of the title track, "Brazil"…

Jane Duboc is an experienced singer and composer. Having worked with names such as Toninho Horta, Djavan and Sivuca, she has appeared on more than 100 albums. Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta composed several themes especially for her, and is an awarded professional. Since her childhood, she studied classical piano and acoustic guitar at the conservatory. At this time, she led several vocal and instrumental groups which were presented in school festivals, with good TV coverage. In March, 1996, together with saxophonist/conductor Roberto Sion, she inaugurated a major convention center in Japan, recording there the CD From Brazil to Japan, then touring all Japan.

The guitar has played a major part in the evolution of Brazilian music, especially during the twentieth century. On this recording the charm, beauty and sensuality of Brazilian guitar music can be heard in pieces as diverse as Marco Pereira’s Pixaim, a fast rhythmic dance originating from North-East Brazil, João Pernambuco’s cheeky Blackbird, the classic song Girl from Ipanema by Antonio Carlos Jobim, a founder of the Bossa Nova movement and, from Brazil’s most famous composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, the hauntingly lyrical Sentimental Melody, written for the film Green Mansions in 1957.

Sarah Vaughan's recordings during the last phase of her magnificent career weren't always up to her usual standards, but this late-'70s set focusing on Brazilian music was a superb exception. Vaughan sounded as delightful and glorious as ever doing songs by legendary composers Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento and newer voices like Dorival Caymmi, Oscar Castro Neves and Eumir Deodato, among many others. The backing and rhythms weren't Americanized pap, but an accurate reflection of contemporary Brazil's sounds at the time. The CD adds two bonus tracks that weren't on the original, giving listeners the full results of what proved to be one of the great Sarah Vaughan's final studio triumphs.

For their 20th anniversary Club des Belugas are releasing a 3-CD album "Best of 2002 - 2022", with 51 tracks and a total playing time of 3 hours and 50 minutes. A compilation of the best-selling tracks on the one hand, and what the band believes to be the best tracks on the other (which is often, but not always, identical). Club des Belugas is one of the leading Nujazz bands in Europe, perhaps in the world. They combine contemporary European Electro, Lounge & Nujazz Styles with Brazilian Beats, Swing and American Black Soul of the fifties, sixties and seventies using their unique creativity and intensity. Since 2002 they released 12 studio albums, a 2CD live album, a live DVD, 22 singles, 1 EP and a 3 CD album BEST OF 2002 - 2022.

It is not often that a Rock musician decides to cross over into much more advanced musical environment, such as Jazz or World Music and does so completely and seriously. Police guitarist Andy Summers, obviously known to most Rock listeners on this planet, is one of those musicians, who changed their path and successfully developed a "new" career. This album, which is the second guitar duo recording with the Brazilian (born in Argentina) virtuoso guitarist Victor Biglione, presents Summers as a monster acoustic guitar player and a most sensitive performer. The duo performs material ranging from Jazz standards to World Music pieces, all of which were composed by great Brazilian musicians (Hermeto Pascoal, Tom Jobim and others) and all of which is absolutely brilliant. This is guitar heaven!