Tania

Though pianist and singer Tânia Maria's Intimidade was originally released in the fall of 2005, it didn't become domestically available in the U.S. until the next year when Blue Note issued it, which is a good thing for American fans of Brazilian jazz, or jazz, or just good music in general. Because Intimidade is a great album, rich and full while not sounding ornate. It's an intimate affair (hence the title, perhaps), Maria with her bassist (bassists actually, as there are three that play on the album, including the great Eddie Gómez, with whom she has a conversation – both musical and verbal – on "E' Tão Gostoso Seu Moco") and percussionists working together to create sophisticated, sensual, warm music that comes out of the speakers and into the room like something tangible, something with substance and actual measurable qualities like viscosity and weight.

Brazilian jazz vocalist and pianist Tania Maria's career has spanned over three decades, starting when she was just 13 and she fronted a band of professional musicians organized by her father, who was a metal worker and gifted amateur musician. He had encouraged her to study piano so that she could accompany him on his weekend jam sessions, but her musical talent grew beyond those small performances. Maria's four sisters also had musical talents, but they eventually grew from their impoverished roots to become professionals, a path that Maria was on herself as well. She attended law school for two years, then married and had a family. The pull of music was too strong, however, and in 1971 she released her first album in Brazil, Olha Quem Chega.