Astrud Gilberto "Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour" (2001)

Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour (compilation)
release date: May 15, 2001
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

A best of compilation album by Astrud Gilberto. The album consists of 20 tracks, and it comprises her best bossa nova and vocal jazz performances including her works with Walter Wanderley Trio, Stan Getz, (husband) Joaõ Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as her better tracks into standards and easy listening.
This is a fine collection.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

Astrud Gilberto "Beach Samba" (1967)

Beach Samba
release date: 1967
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Stay" (4 / 5) - 2. "Misty Roses" - 3. "The Face I Love" - 4. "A Banda (Parade)" - 5. "Oba, oba" - 6. "Canoeiro" - 7. "I Had the Craziest Dream" - 8. "Bossa na praia (Beach Samba)" - 9. "My Foolish Heart" - 10. "Dia das Rosas (I Think of You)" - 11. "You Didn't Have Be So Nice" - 12. "Não bate o coroção"

5th studio album by Astrud Gilberto is a more of a pop and standards-styled album. This is better than her first attempt with the standards, her second album, The Shadow of Your Smile (1965). Primarily, she succeeds better because on this album the pop songs are more easy listening tracks that do not demand a voluminous voice like her best albums with bossa nova vocal jazz. An enhanced re-issue was released in 1993 with 17 tracks. The album is included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Astrud Gilberto "Look to the Rainbow" (1966)

Look to the Rainbow
release date: 1966
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Berimbau" - 2. "Once Upon a Summertime" - 3. "Felicidade" - 4. "I Will Wait for You (Love Theme From Umbrellas of Cherbourg)" - 5. "Frevo" - 6. "Maria Quiet (Maria Moita)" - 7. "Look to the Rainbow" - 8. "Bim Bom" - 9. "Lugar bonito (Pretty Place)" - 10. "E preciso aprender a ser so (Learn to Live Alone)" - 11. "She's a Carioca"

4th studio album by Astrud Gilberto (including the collaboration album Astrud Gilberto & Walter Wanderley, also 1966). This is my favorite Astrud Gilberto album. The highly praised debut is in my mind more of an expansion of her vocal jazz and bossa nova music with Getz / Gilberto (1963), but this is more herself. She has turned back to her speciality: the Brazilian bossa nova styled compositions with her quiet fragile vocal guiding the listener through the tracks. There's still a few standards on this album but not the vocal demanding ones as she tried on her second album. She doesn't have the big singing voice but she has a fine jazz understanding which really comes through on this.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

1966 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul - 2. Dexter Gordon Gettin' Around' - 3. Astrud Gilberto Look to the Rainbow

Astrud Gilberto "The Shadow of Your Smile" (1965)

The Shadow of Your Smile
release date: Oct. 21, 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "The Shadow of Your Smile" - 2. "(Take Me To) Aruanda" (4 / 5) - 3. "Manhã de Carnaval" (3,5 / 5) - 4. "Fly Me to the Moon" - 5. "The Gentle Rain" - 6. "Non-Stop to Brazil" - 7. "O Ganso" - 8. "Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Needs Me)" - 9. "Day by Day" - 10. "Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness)" - 11. "Funny World"

2nd studio album by Astrud Gilberto. This is an attempt to expand her repertoire with (American) standards, and it's a bland experience. She still succeeds best with her narrow instrument and voice on the bossa nova tracks like "Aruanda".
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Beto Guedes "Contos da Lua Vaga" (1981)

Contos da Lua Vaga

release date: 1981

format: cd (2002 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Beto Guedes

label: EMI - nationality: Brazil

Track highlights: 1. "O Sal da Terra" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Tesouro da Juventude" - 3. "Boa Sorte" - 6. "Veveco, Panelas e Canelas" - 7. "Quatro" - 10. "Canção do Novo Mundo" (4 / 5) - 11. "Noite Sem Luar"

4th studio album by Beto Guedes follows two years after Sol de Primavera and is the first with himself as producer. Much as usual the majority of the songs are written by Guedes with various other co-composers like Ronaldo Bastos, Marcio Borges and Luiz Guedes. In tradition with his former releases this also contains one song written by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant (track #6), and ends with a song of his fathers (track #11).

"O Sal da Terra" is already a modern classic of MPB but other songs lifts this release and makes it his so far second best only superceded by Amor de Índio (1978).

Recommended.

Beto Guedes "Sol de Primavera" (1979)

Sol de Primavera

release date: 1979

format: cd (1995 remaster) 

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]

producer: Ronaldo Bastos, Mayrton Bahia

label: EMI - nationality: Brazil

Track highlights: 1. "Sol de Primavera" - 2. "Como Nunca" - 3. "Cruzada" - 5. "Pedras Rolando" - 10. "Casinha de Palha"

3rd studio album by Beto Guedes following the fine Amor de Índio (1978). With this Guedes still upholds the traditional style of MPB and latin folk but the album mostly shows his attempt to blend in elements from Western popular music in form of heavier arrangements and with touches of more simple-structured soft rock, which may be an influence from Genesis and 10cc, but also from fusion rock bands like Santana and Weather Report. It's not that it's without originality, as it still contains Guedes' highly original light singing style but it's undoubtedly a step away from the more traditional latin folk he demonstrated on his first two solo releases. On Sol de Primavera Guedes appears to try to incorporate the succesful styles from contemporary British, American and Mediterranean artists, and it becomes a bit of mouthful to digest. The best tracks - and especially heard on the title track - are still compositions fitting more in the line of his earlier works. This is not a poor album, but it's really not too coherent.

Astrud Gilberto "The Astrud Gilberto Album" (1965)

The Astrud Gilberto Album [debut]
release date: May 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Once I Loved" - 2. "Água de Beber" (feat. Antonio Carlos Jobim) - 3. "Meditation (I Will Wait for You)" - 4. "And Roses and Roses" - 5. "O Morro (Não tem Vez)" - 6. "How Insensitive" - 7. "Dindi" - 8. "Photograph" - 9. "Dreamer" - 10. "Só tinha de ser com você" - 11. "All That's Left Is to Say Goodbye"

Studio debut album by Astrud Gilberto, who had become worldwide famous for her fragile latin English on the great Getz / Gilberto (1963) album featuring Stan Getz and Astrud's husband, João Gilberto for her participation on especially "The Girl from Ipanema", although, she was never part of the ensemble that stood behind the perhaps most important and best known album of bossa nova [Stan, well he just wouldn't have that...].
This is a strong debut thanks to Astrud but also Antonio Carlos Jobim. The style is very much the same as on the famous Getz / Gilberto album, which means bossa nova. Here just without the beauty of Stan's sax.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Beto Guedes "A Página do Relâmpago Elétrico" (1977)

A Página do Relâmpago Elétrico [debut]
release date: 1977
format: cd (2002 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: Ronaldo Bastos

label: EMI - nationality: Brazil

Tracklist: 1. "A Página do Relâmpago Elétrico" - 2. "Maria Solidária" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "Choveu" - 4. "Chapéu de Sol" - 5. "Tanto" - 6. "Lumiar" - 7. "Bandolim" - 8. "Nascente" - 9. "Salve Rainha" - 10. "Belo Horizonte"

Música Popular Brasileira
I don't know much about Beto Guedes. I just love his music and I find it strange how completely unknown he is in the Northern hemisphere...
I stumbled on his music as I was looking for the origins of a beloved song by Milton Nascimento, or so I thought it was. The song is "Amor de Índio" which is found on A Barca dos Amantes (1986), a fabulous live album by Milton accompagnied by Wayne Shorter, and Nascimento is just an icon of singer / songwriter of MPB, latin vocal jazz, folk... and contemporary latin, pop folk... or: modern world music. I just love Milton's crispy soulful Brazilian vocal shape of sound... Then I found that this giant of a song was written by Beto Guedes and composed with Ronaldo Bastos, and I had my difficulties in finding any music at all with the man himself, except on youtube. Guedes took part in the formation with Fernando Brant of the Nascimento and Lô Borges-led music collective "Clube da Esquina" in which Guedes at times sang lead vocal and played guitar before starting an enduring career as a solo artist.

Beto has a totally different vocal sound. At first one might think it could be a woman's voice. That's not all of course, Beto has a wonderful lightness that makes it almost ethereal. Also, Beto's MPB seems more inspired by western folk rock standards making his output more in family with Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, in my opinion, however, these greats don't compare to Beto.

The album contains compositions, which individually point in various directions, several songs are MPB-styled Brazilian folk, but others are shaped as progressive folk, e.g. "Choveu", "Chapéau de Sol", "Tanto" and "Nascente" - others have stronger beat-structure, but the album's strength is that it doesn't sound too incoherent nor like replicating other artists - it's very much an original sound altogether, held together by Beto's vocal, and it's a naturally much recommended listen.

BEST OF 1964:Getz / Gilberto "Getz - Gilberto (feat. Antônio Carlos Jobim)" (1964)

Getz / Gilberto (feat. Antônio Carlos Jobim)
release date: Mar. 1964
format: cd (1997 Verve Master Edition)
[album rate: 5 / 5]
producer: Creed Taylor
label: Verve Records / PolyGram / MGM - nationality: Brazil - USA

"So Danço Samba"

Iconic bossa nova jazz album by Stan Getz and João Gilberto.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".