Brazilian jazz didn't start with the bossa nova explosion of the early '60s. In 1953, alto saxophonist
Bud Shank and guitarist
Laurindo Almeida teamed up for their historic
Brazilliance sessions, which combined cool jazz and Brazilian rhythms more than seven years before
Stan Getz started working with
Antonio Carlos Jobim and
João Gilberto. But the early '60s was when Brazilian jazz really became a major phenomenon in the jazz world, and when the early '00s arrived, there were still plenty of people combining jazz and Brazilian rhythms -- like Afro-Cuban jazz, Brazilian jazz is obviously here to stay. This Universal compilation, which was available in Brazil before it was released in the United States in October 2002, illustrates the durability of Brazilian jazz (both vocal and instrumental) by offering different material from different eras. The '60s are nicely represented by the recordings of
the Tamba Trio ("Influência do Jazz"),
Sergio Mendes ("Batida Diferente"), and
Baden Powell ("Deixa"), among others.
Wagner Tiso's "Giselle" and
Leo Gandelman's "Ocidente" are from the '80s, and
The Best of Brazilian Jazz takes listeners into the 21st century with
Moacir Santos' "Kamba" and
Bebel Gilberto's "Bananeira." Another highlight of the CD is singer
Ithamara Koorax's 2000 remake of the French pop classic "A Man and a Woman," which is known as "Un Homme et une Femme" in French.
Koorax's sensuous version, which enjoyed a lot of airplay on Brazilian radio, gives listeners a rare opportunity to hear her singing in French; most of
Koorax's vocals have been in Portuguese or English. Regrettably, this compilation doesn't have any liner notes, and exact recording dates would also have been appreciated (although Universal does list the years in which the material was first released). But all things considered,
The Best of Brazilian Jazz is well worth obtaining. ~ Alex Henderson