Diana Panton's To Brazil With Love pays tribute to the radical modernist Brazilian music which developed in Rio de Janeiro in the '50s and '60s.
She alternates between French and English lyrics and brings her unique take to the music but it is unmistakably linked to the tradition. The U.K. label Soul Jazz Records has been issuing a treasure trove of tracks from bossa nova's heyday in a new series of recordings. Visit the Soul Jazz website (www.soundsoftheuniverse.com) for a full rundown of archival reissues, but here's a list of a few favourites from the label's ever-expanding catalogue of mind-blowing music:
- Bossa Nova: Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s
Double-CD set, compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, with a 75-page book of photographs documenting the period as well as extensive sleeve-notes contextualising the music in terms of social and cultural changes taking place in Brazil.
- Brazil Bossa Beat: The Story of Elenco Records in Brazil
Collection of tracks from Brazil's legendary Elenco Records accompanied by a 75-page book documenting the bossa nova scene.
