Velas

This album reflects the seven-year international experience of Ivan Lins, with the careful production by Stewart Levine and Larry Williams. The thoughtful balance between Brazilian elements turned more palatable to international audiences through pop touches made it a big hit, the patriotic "Meu País." All lyrics in this album are from Vítor Martins (with a bit of Aldir Blanc), his longtime musical partner, and his business partner since the previous year when the label that released this and other Lins' albums, Velas.

Rosa Passos is one of the few singers currently in Brazil dedicated to a genuine evolution of Brazilian music, devoid of fashionable trend and commercialism. She has established herself firmly in the country's artistic scenery, acknowledged by many such as João Gilberto, Maria Schneider, Clare Fisher, Paquito d'Rivera, Johnny Alf, Nana Caymmi (who recorded two of her compositions), and even the number one enemy of bossa nova, the fundamental music researcher J.R. Tinhorão, even if she hasn't had her deserved media exposure.

An enormous commercial success, 1981's The Dude is a cross-cultural success blending jazz, Latin music, soul ballads, and straight pop into an admittedly slick but never over-produced or soulless stew. The album opens with a surprise: "Ai No Corrida" is a synthesizer-driven yet still funky Latin dance track written by Chaz Jankel of Ian Dury & the Blockheads, suggesting that unlike a lot of musicians his age, Quincy Jones kept his ears open to new music. The proto-rap title track accomplishes the same thing. The rest of the album is more conventional, with James Ingram and Patti Austin trading vocals on a smooth collection of tracks highlighted by the masterful love ballads "One Hundred Ways" and "Just Once," staples of adult contemporary stations, and the haunting Stevie Wonder-penned instrumental "Velas." The Dude is an outstanding collection that was massively influential on the '80s R&B scene.

ABUC is the 8th album by Roberto Fonseca hes released under his own name and the first to appear on the Impulse! label. Teeming with rascally rhythms and burly brass and woven from allusions, souvenirs and contrasts, ABUC is a kaleidoscope of dancing colors with which Roberto tells a story: the great and rich story of Cuban music, from yesterday to today.

Es diu que en aquest projecte Marco Mezquida i Juan Gómez, Chicuelo es troben, no es pregunten d'on vénen. Conexión és el nom del nou àlbum d'aquests dos músics, disponible a botigues a partir del mes d'abril i la presentació oficial del qual serà a L'Auditori de Barcelona el dijous 4 de maig, a les 21.00 h.

This early 90's anthology packs a lot of Quincy Jones' many hits, from various eras up to the mid-80's. It is notable for being the only way to obtain "Midnight Soul Patrol" from his 1976 album "I Heard That" which for some reason was only released in CD format in Japan circa 1986 and now commands a stratospheric price on the second-hand market when it can even be found.

Love, Q features some of producer/composer/arranger/trumpeter and music legend Quincy Jones' best-known love songs. Spanning a nice swath of time from the '70s through the '90s, the collection focuses on Jones' R&B-oriented material. Included here are such stellar tunes as the steamy Leon Ware/Bruce Fisher number "Body Heat," Patti Austin's lyrical "Love Me By Name," and the Tevin Campbell feature "Everything." While this isn't the definitive Jones compilation, or even as complete a picture as Hip-O's previous Jones package, Ultimate Collection, it is still nice to have all these "quiet storm"-ready tracks in one place.

2 Lados - o melhor dos grandes compositores do Brasil. «2 Lados» reune o melhor que a musica brasileira ja apresentou ao mundo. Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento e Toquinho em discos duplos apresentam o melhor da sua composicao e interpretacao. «2 Lados» e best of e songbook numa mesma embalagem. Cada um dos CDs duplos da coleccao e focado num compositor que, como e tradicao na MPB, tambem e interprete de grandes sucessos. O CD1 exibe o seu lado cantor das proprias composicoes e de cancoes de outros colegas da musica brasileira. O CD 2 complementa o perfil mostrando um outro lado de sua obra na voz dos maiores interpretes da MPB. 28 faixas em cada um dos 17 titulos, a coleccao revela os «2 Lados» de artistas como Tom Jobim, Ivan Lins, Toquinho, Milton Nascimento, Chico Buarque, Vinicius de Moraes e Caetano Veloso.