Album Brazilian Groove by Putumayo Review
It isn't hard to understand why an American who is starting to explore Brazilian music might feel intimidated. Brazil is a huge country - the largest in Latin America - and it has given listeners so many different styles of music. Samba, bossa nova, forro, baião, choro, embolada, frevo, serteneja, and lambada are only some of the many styles that have come out of Brazil. So how should the novice proceed? For one thing, find some nicely assembled compilations and enjoy them, but don't expect any one CD to tell you everything that needs to be known about Brazilian music. One of the many Brazilian compilations that's worth acquiring is Brazilian Music Grooves, which producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro supervised for RCA/BMG's Brazilian division. Spanning 1964-1995, this collection of Brazilian jazz and Brazilian pop opts for diversity but still has a focused, consistent quality. All of the recordings are from the vaults of RCA Brazil, and they range from trombonist Raul DeSouza's hard bop/samba version of "Você e Eu" to the rewarding Brazilian pop (or pop-jazz) of Ivan Lins' "Abre Alas", João Bosco's "Linha de Passe", and Gal Costa's "Nua Idéia". The term Brazilian jazz can mean a variety of things; here, it means everything from caressing bossa nova for Marco Castro-Neves on Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Corcovado" to '70s fusion for Banda Black Rio on an instrumental version of Milton Nascimento's "Cravo e Canela". The CD's most recent recording is Lulu Santos' 1995 hit "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares", which samples the Trammps' "Disco Inferno" and is basically disco with Portuguese lyrics. This unpredictable compilation is happily recommended to anyone who is looking to explore different styles of Brazilian jazz and pop.Review by allmusic.com
