Customer Reviews

Leila Pinheiro - Isso e Bossa Nova

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Isso e Bossa Nova is, quite simply, one of the greatest interpretations of Bossa Nova classics ever recorded. For those of you not familiar, Bossa Nova is a style of Brazilian music that first developed and became very popular in the early 1960s. It was a dramatic turn in Brazilian music, which had been dominated by samba -- a relatively fast, multi-rythmic dance and party music. The earliest pioneers of Bossa Nova, influenced by American "cool jazz" tried to dramatically quiet down Samba while retaining its essential rythmic complexity. Bossa Nova crossed over to the U.S. in the 1960s, particularly through collaborations between American jazz musicians and the greatest Bossa Nova composers and musicians, such as Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto. The center of gravity of Brazilian musical culture has moved on, but some musicians, like Leila, lovingly preserve and re-interpret Bossa Nova, just as many great singers in the U.S. continue to sing the great jazz "standards." Ironically, Leila has produced many other albums, but to my ears, many are "over-produced," sounding like 1970s jazz fusion. In this album, her producers pared down the accomanying musicians, letting Leila's voice and vision emerge with crystal clarity. What is so remarkable about this album is the combination of reverence for the great composers and the impact of Leila's profoundly personal, new interpretations. Her voice is crystal clear and pure; her pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese lyrics is playful (even if you don't understand a word of her language). Plus it simply swings -- it's one of the most rythmically moving collections I've ever heard -- while being very quiet and intimate. Two of my favorite singles are Sabe Voce and Samba de Pergunta. Sabe Voce is a beautiful monologue presumably by a poor person to a rich person about the nature of love. Samba de Pergunta is a beautiful, haunting, contemplative and mysterious bossa nova-samba about a woman who is disappearing into her own private thoughts. I can't tell you how beautiful this music is. I bought this CD about two years ago, and my musical education has ended here: I can play it over and over, only growing more fond of it, finding more subtleties in the poetry of the lyrics, the complexity of the poly-rythms and the sophistication of Leila's interpretation. This is one CD to purchase without hesitation and treasure for the rest of your life!

Little known in North America, Leila Pinheiro is one of the most artful and emotive singers I've ever encountered. I have listened to this CD hundreds of times and keep coming back to it. Strictly speaking, this isn't jazz, but as someone whose taste runs to the great jazz singers - Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald Betty Carter - I love this record. It doesn't sound like any of the people above, of course. But like all of the people above, Leila tells you who she is as she sings. A truly beautiful record! I've played it for many people, with differing musical sensibilities, and everyone loves it. It's the rare case of a work that has very broad appeal without compromises of any kind.

this is a quite wonderful album, mixing some beloved bossa classics with some that deserve to be. among them, my personal nominations as standouts are three in number.

1. how many times has "Samba Do Aviao" been recorded? a hundred? a thousand? enough, certainly, to suggest to anyone remotely acquainted with mpb (subcategory bossa)that its interpretive potential has got to have been exhausted. but whoa! here comes leila pinheiro with an interpretation fresh and compelling enough to make the jobim classic sound new all over again.

2. at the end of her wonderful treatment of menescal-boscoli's "Por Quem Morreu De Amor" listen for a charmingly scatted little quote from their better known "O Barquinho."

3. her rendition of johnny alf's "Rapaz De Bem" once again causes me to wonder why the music of this wonderful pianist and composer is not more widely known outside his native country.

i take note of the earlier critic's comments about over production, and to some extent admit that could be outputting for some. but if you were enchanted (as i have been) by the master tom's collaborations with claus ogermann, i don't think you'll find leila's orchestral arrangments anything less than tasteful.

Leila Pinheiro is a brilliant, expressive singer with a beautiful, instantly recognizable voice.

But the incredible over-orchestration of this album mars the experience for me. If you don't like huge arrays of strings, marimbas, brass, etc., this is not the album for you. At times the bombastic orchestra even appears to be mixed louder than the vocals.

...not that there's anything wrong with Jobim's greatest hits and "Black Orpheus," but some of us just had to move on. If we'd been hanging out on Copacabana or Leme in, say, 1963, with a guitar or a transistor radio, we'd probably have been grooving to tunes like these, whose composers never quite got the benefit of the jazz-bossa-fusion hype; not to disparage Mr. Jobim (who is also included on the disc), there were many other composers who were critical to the bossa nova movement. With tasteful, colorful small ensemble orchestration, Leila is the perfect singer to channel us back -- and up -- to a new level of bossa nova consciousness.

This is one of my all-time favorite Brazilian CDs (and I have too many to count!). Some reviewers have complained about the orchestrations. I think it depends on "how you prefer your bossa nova!" ... a matter of taste.

I must say I LOVE the full orchestra! The songs on this CD are harmonically pretty complex, which opens up so many options and choices in the arrangements. For me, they are a wonderful balance of melody, harmony and percussion.

Leila Pinhero is a very rhythmic singer, and it's a real treat to hear all the varied percussion instruments with the orchestra. Love it, love it, love it. Rapaz de bem gives me goose bumps every time I hear it, and I cannot stand still!

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