An incredible guitar hero who has been a source of inspiration for hordes of other incredible guitar heroes, Carlos Santana’s musical range is as wide as it gets. Starting out in Latin rock and funk bands that could almost be described as psychedelic, the Mexican musician has now masterfully fused psychedelic rock and hot funk together and released music under his own name. Accompanied by his brilliant band, he unexpectedly achieved enormous success at Woodstock festival. On this second album, released in September 1970 on CBS records, his sound is multifaceted, contributing to the jazz-rock/jazz-fusion movement that was starting to take hold at the time. His lyrical guitar playing combined with the warm musical tones of his fellow musicians results in incredible tracks such as Black Magic Woman (which is actually a cover of a song Peter Green wrote for Fleetwood Mac), Oye Como Va (a sensual take on a Tito Puente song) as well as Incident At Neshabur (an incredible electronic Latin jazz instrumental that really gets you going before fading into a hushed groove). Somewhere between psychedelic rock, funk fusion, popular blues, contemporary salsa and high-voltage jazz, Abraxas is a pioneering record, an album ahead of its time... © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova's finest moment, Getz/Gilberto trumped Jazz Samba by bringing two of bossa nova's greatest innovators -- guitarist/singer João Gilberto and composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim -- to New York to record with Stan Getz. The results were magic. Ever since Jazz Samba, the jazz marketplace had been flooded with bossa nova albums, and the overexposure was beginning to make the music seem like a fad. Getz/Gilberto made bossa nova a permanent part of the jazz landscape not just with its unassailable beauty, but with one of the biggest smash hit singles in jazz history -- "The Girl From Ipanema," a Jobim classic sung by João's wife, Astrud Gilberto, who had never performed outside of her own home prior to the recording session. Beyond that, most of the Jobim songs recorded here also became standards of the genre -- "Corcovado" (which featured another vocal by Astrud), "So Danço Samba," "O Grande Amor," a new version of "Desafinado." With such uniformly brilliant material, it's no wonder the album was such a success but, even apart from that, the musicians all play with an effortless grace that's arguably the fullest expression of bossa nova's dreamy romanticism ever brought to American listeners. Getz himself has never been more lyrical, and Gilberto and Jobim pull off the harmonic and rhythmic sophistication of the songs with a warm, relaxed charm. This music has nearly universal appeal; it's one of those rare jazz records about which the purist elite and the buying public are in total agreement. Beyond essential.© Steve Huey /TiVo

Melody Gardot made her public debut aged 24 with My One and Only Thrill in 2009, released on Verve Records. Many thought she’d pursue the glamourous, sophisticated and mysterious image conveyed by this record and forge a music career as a “jazz singer”.  However, just a quick glance at her eclectic discography proves that this singer-songwriter has done anything but, using each new release as an opportunity to reinvent herself and reveal a new part of her personality. After returning to her soul-rock roots on Currency of Man, (which celebrates the music of her native Philadelphia), and the barque hybridisation of The Absence (which borrows its rhythms and orchestral sounds from the various countries she’s spent time in over the last few years, such as Argentina and Portugal), Melody Gardot’s Entre eux deux is an intimate and romantic record that reflects on her relationship with France—more specifically with Paris—which she’s called home since 2016 (at least for most of the year). Conceived, composed and recorded in close collaboration with French pianist and composer Philippe Powell (son of the great Brazilian musician Baden Powell), Entre eux deux makes the most of the emotional proximity afforded by the duet format. It utilises a whole range of nuanced emotions and forms by using a repertoire that mixes legendary French songs (such as Francis Lai and Pierre Barouh’s masterpiece, Plus fort que nous), Brazilian classics (Samba Em Preludio by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes) and original compositions that are effortlessly sung both in English and in French. The whole album is enhanced by the scenographic sound field created by the intentionally impressionistic piano harmonies, which forge an incredibly natural link between Bill Evans, Claude Debussy and the world of bossa nova. Melody Gardot’s deep and sensual voice resonates with great sophistication and sensitivity, exploring the mysteries of love songs through consistently beautiful melodies imbued with ineffable nostalgia. She plays into a few stereotypes (crazy love, Paris romance) in order to create an ironic sense of distance (listen to the lyrics of A la Tour Eiffel and Fleurs du dimanche, which are subtly disenchanted). Melody Gardot has never seemed more in control of her art than she does in this intimate record. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz

A byproduct of the bossa nova fad that followed the success of "Desafinado" (and preceded the famous recording Getz/Gilberto), this set finds Quincy Jones utilizing and exploiting bossa nova rhythms in his arrangements for a big band. The personnel includes flügelhornist Clark Terry, altoist Phil Woods, pianist Lalo Schifrin, guitarist Jim Hall, and (on "Soul Bossa Nova") the remarkable Rahsaan Roland Kirk. However, since the selections are all quite brief, and some of the charts are a bit cheesy and inappropriate for the gentle rhythms, this disc (although pleasant enough) is of lesser interest.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

That Coleman Hawkins jumped on the jazz/bossa nova bandwagon craze initiated by Stan Getz in 1962 was a bit of a surprise to his fans, but that he was comfortable in the idiom should not be off-putting. Able to adapt to any style over his lengthy career, the legendary tenor saxophonist chose classic standards adapted to Brazilian rhythms, music from masters like Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, and a Manny Albam original. Producer Bob Thiele and music director Albam were strong in their resolve directing Hawkins to do this project, and the results are fairly predictable, especially considering that every single track is played in midtempo. The difference is the deployment of two guitarists in Barry Galbraith (lead) and Howard Collins (rhythm) split into separate stereo channels, with bassist Major Holley and no full kit drummer, although Eddie Locke with a minimal and stripped-down setup, Willie Rodriguez, and even Tommy Flanagan play small Latin percussion instruments. Themes derived from nights in Rio such as the beautifully rendered title track and "One Note Samba" are quite typical, but "O Pato" (The Duck) has a component added on from Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train," while the Hawkins original "Stumpy" is adapted into "Stumpy Bossa Nova," derived from Dizzy Gillespie's "Groovin' High" with a taste of "The Man I Love" tacked on at the end. Albam's "Samba Para Bean" is standardized cool with Locke's accents via brushes on closed hi-hat cymbals, while "I Remember You" is a completely unforced, pretty rendition of this well-worn standard. Gilberto's tribute to Luiz Bonfá, "Um Abraco No Bonfa," sports a guitar lead by Galbraith in a stretched-out frame. The curve ball is a somewhat weird crossbred samba take of "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover," a truly corny song the band tried to make cool, only marginally succeeding. The simplified style of this album overall perfectly suited the amiable, good-natured, and laid-back Hawkins at a time when the world was somewhat in political turmoil regarding Caribbean nations and the role of South America in the emerging so-called Third World. He passed away seven years later, leaving a legacy as the most revered tenor saxophonist in jazz, and this very nice recording in his long discography, unique even unto itself.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

Partly because of its Brazilian collaborators and partly because of "The Girl From Ipanema," Getz/Gilberto is nearly always acknowledged as the Stan Getz bossa nova LP. But Jazz Samba is just as crucial and groundbreaking; after all, it came first, and in fact was the first full-fledged bossa nova album ever recorded by American jazz musicians. And it was just as commercially successful, topping the LP charts and producing its own pop chart hit single in "Desafinado." It was the true beginning of the bossa nova craze, and introduced several standards of the genre (including Ary Barroso's "Bahia" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Desafinado" and "Samba de Uma Nota Só" [aka "One Note Samba"]). But above all, Jazz Samba stands on its own artistic merit as a shimmering, graceful collection that's as subtly advanced -- in harmony and rhythm -- as it is beautiful. Getz and his co-billed partner, guitarist Charlie Byrd -- who was actually responsible for bringing bossa nova records to the U.S. and introducing Getz to the style -- have the perfect touch for bossa nova's delicate, airy texture. For his part, Byrd was one of the first American musicians to master bossa nova's difficult, bubbling syncopations, and his solos are light and lilting. Meanwhile, Getz's playing is superb, simultaneously offering a warm, full tone and a cool control of dynamics; plus, Byrd's gently off-kilter harmonies seem to stimulate Getz's melodic inventiveness even more than usual. But beyond technique, Getz intuitively understands the romanticism and the undercurrent of melancholy inherent in the music, and that's what really made Jazz Samba such a revelatory classic. Absolutely essential for any jazz collection.© Steve Huey /TiVo

One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova's finest moment, Getz/Gilberto trumped Jazz Samba by bringing two of bossa nova's greatest innovators -- guitarist/singer João Gilberto and composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim -- to New York to record with Stan Getz. The results were magic. Ever since Jazz Samba, the jazz marketplace had been flooded with bossa nova albums, and the overexposure was beginning to make the music seem like a fad. Getz/Gilberto made bossa nova a permanent part of the jazz landscape not just with its unassailable beauty, but with one of the biggest smash hit singles in jazz history -- "The Girl From Ipanema," a Jobim classic sung by João's wife, Astrud Gilberto, who had never performed outside of her own home prior to the recording session. Beyond that, most of the Jobim songs recorded here also became standards of the genre -- "Corcovado" (which featured another vocal by Astrud), "So Danço Samba," "O Grande Amor," a new version of "Desafinado." With such uniformly brilliant material, it's no wonder the album was such a success but, even apart from that, the musicians all play with an effortless grace that's arguably the fullest expression of bossa nova's dreamy romanticism ever brought to American listeners. Getz himself has never been more lyrical, and Gilberto and Jobim pull off the harmonic and rhythmic sophistication of the songs with a warm, relaxed charm. This music has nearly universal appeal; it's one of those rare jazz records about which the purist elite and the buying public are in total agreement. Beyond essential.© Steve Huey /TiVo

Six years after the album Chamber Music, which earned them a Victoire de la musique, one of the highest awards in French music, cellist Vincent Segal and kora player Ballaké Sissoko combine their favourite instruments once again to birth Musique de nuit. This is a delicate, soothing fusion of two musicians operating at the absolute peak of their powers. The French and Malian natives met up in Bamako; reuniting there to make fantastic world music from these two (seemingly) contradictory instruments. Improvisation remains at the heart of the album, and the two musicians never seem to encroach upon each other’s separate roles. They take turns to provide the lead on rhythm and melody, along the way taking in a wide variety of styles such as mbalax and Brazilian music. Yet, whatever realm they venture into together, the results are always enticing.

This release is Joao Gilberto stripped down nearly to his bare essentials -- his voice, guitar and the extremely spare drumming of Sonny Carr -- and he's just as mesmerizing as he's ever been on records. The whole record is about the rhythmic clashes and dovetailings of a singer and his guitar, pitched at extremely low levels of volume yet generating volumes of drive without seeming to breathe hard. Dig the insistent way in which "Falsa Baiana" and Gilberto Gil's marathon rhythm machine "Eu Vim Da Bahia" ride the waves of the bossa nova groove, or how Gilberto delivers one of the best renditions of Jobim's "Aguas de Marco" -- quietly relentless and to-the-point. Three of the tracks eschew words altogether -- gentle syllables and/or Gilberto's insistent guitar tell the entire story -- and the final selection, "Izaura," belatedly adds a female voice (Miucha) in the left speaker. Though recorded in a New Jersey studio -- the engineer, surprisingly enough, is Wendy Carlos, the electronic music pioneer of Switched-On Bach fame -- this addictive release originates from PolyGram Brazil.© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo

Here's some more bossa nova from Stan Getz when the bloom was still on the first Brazilian boom. This time, however, on his third such album, Getz relies mostly upon native Brazilians for his backing. Thus, the soft-focused grooves are considerably more attuned to what was actually coming out of Brazil at the time. Two bona fide giants, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá (who gets co-billing), provide the guitars and all of the material, and Maria Toledo contributes an occasional throaty vocal. Getz injects more high-wailing passages into his intuitive affinity for the groove, even going for some fast bop on "Un Abraco No Getz," and Bonfá takes adept care of the guitar solos against Jobim's rock-steady rhythm. Clearly Jobim's songwriting contributions -- "So Danco Samba," "How Insensitive," and "O Morro Nao Tem Vez" -- would have the longest shelf life, and though the album didn't sell as well as its two predecessors, it certainly helped break these tunes into the permanent jazz repertoire. Avid bossa nova fans will certainly treasure this album for the lesser-known Bonfá tunes.© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo

One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova's finest moment, Getz/Gilberto trumped Jazz Samba by bringing two of bossa nova's greatest innovators -- guitarist/singer João Gilberto and composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim -- to New York to record with Stan Getz. The results were magic. Ever since Jazz Samba, the jazz marketplace had been flooded with bossa nova albums, and the overexposure was beginning to make the music seem like a fad. Getz/Gilberto made bossa nova a permanent part of the jazz landscape not just with its unassailable beauty, but with one of the biggest smash hit singles in jazz history -- "The Girl From Ipanema," a Jobim classic sung by João's wife, Astrud Gilberto, who had never performed outside of her own home prior to the recording session. Beyond that, most of the Jobim songs recorded here also became standards of the genre -- "Corcovado" (which featured another vocal by Astrud), "So Danço Samba," "O Grande Amor," a new version of "Desafinado." With such uniformly brilliant material, it's no wonder the album was such a success but, even apart from that, the musicians all play with an effortless grace that's arguably the fullest expression of bossa nova's dreamy romanticism ever brought to American listeners. Getz himself has never been more lyrical, and Gilberto and Jobim pull off the harmonic and rhythmic sophistication of the songs with a warm, relaxed charm. This music has nearly universal appeal; it's one of those rare jazz records about which the purist elite and the buying public are in total agreement. Beyond essential.© Steve Huey /TiVo

Cal Tjader's Brazilian explorations continue and actually deepen with this release, as he joins forces with a host of progressive young Brazilian musicians, all overseen by producer Airto Moreira. By now, Tjader had figured out how to fit into the blend, doing so by losing himself in the complex mix of Afro-Brazilian rhythms, American funk and '70s-era electronics, integrating his own identity for the sake of the ensemble. Indeed, Tjader actually appears on marimba on tracks like Joao Donato's "Amazonas" and his collaboration with Hermeto Pascoal, "Mindoro," his playing taking on a more brittle edge as a result. Tjader's Southern Hemisphere cohorts include such emerging luminaries as keyboardist Egberto Gismonti, percussionist Robertinho Silva, the sometimes wild flutist Hermeto Pascoal and on one track, the superb trombonist Raul de Souza. The intricate arrangements are in the hands of George Duke, and so are the funky, occasionally spaced-out keyboard sounds (albeit under the contractually dictated pseudonym "Dawilli Gonga"). © Richard S. Ginell /TiVo

Fresh from the sudden success of Jazz Samba and "Desafinado," Stan Getz asked the 28-year-old, strikingly gifted Gary McFarland to arrange a bossa nova album for big band as a follow-up. Getz is always his debonair, wistful, freely-floating self, completely at home in the Brazilian idiom that he'd adopted only a few months before. McFarland usually keeps things nice and spare (although "One Note Samba" is uncharacteristically cluttered and a bit too discordant for the material), letting his pungent voicings stab the air now and then, while allowing the soloists all the room they want within the confines of producer Creed Taylor's tight timings. Four of the eight songs are by McFarland (none of which would become standards), and Getz makes relaxed impressions with "Manha de Carnival" and "Chega de Saudade." Jim Hall takes the role of acoustic guitarist from Charlie Byrd with his usual fluidity, and Hank Jones ruminates in a boppish way on piano. This album also charted quite respectably (number 13) in the first flush of the bossa nova boom.© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo